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City
of Montesano City Forest
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 |
Loren Hiner,
City Forester
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2009
Annual Forestry Report
(PDF format, 6.9 Megabytes. May take a few minutes to download, depending
on your Internet connection speed. Please be patient!)
The 4,946-acre Montesano City Forest shall be managed for a mix of objectives. Long-term sustainability and a healthy environment are the key issues to guide future decisions. Forest revenue shall be optimized consistent with maintenance of recreational opportunities and the good stewardship of fish and wildlife habitats.
Maintain a 10-year paper plan for commercial thinnings and for final harvests.
Use a rotation age from 50 to 60 years depending on stand quality, species, and location, with an average mature harvest age of 55 years.
Harvest by the preferred method of clear cutting 80 acres maximum in a unit.
Utilize other harvesting prescriptions, i.e., partial cuts with Douglas fir stands in sensitive areas or to meet habitat considerations.
Reforest with the following goal for
mixture of species:
· 60%
Douglas fir
· 20%
hemlock
· 10%
cedar/spruce
· 10%
alder
Replant clear cut units within one year following logging with the goal of establishing 400 quality trees per acre.
Control competing brush species and animal damage to forest stands to maintain target stocking of 400 trees/acre to age 25.
Use pre-commercial thinning in stands from age 8 to 12 years to reduce stocking to 400 trees/acre when existing stocking is over 750 trees/acre.
Use Best Practices Management in all operations along with current technology.
Use commercial thinning in 25 to 35 year old stands when the log market allows, leaving quality undamaged stands of about 150 trees/acre.
Use a winter storm damage salvage program wherever it pays and can be accomplished in a sensitive manner.
Prepare and implement a fire protection plan.
Consult with Lake Sylvia State Park for all City forest operations reasonable to lesson any negative impacts within the State Park.
Communicate with and notify any adjacent landowner when a City operation adjoins their property.
Calculate an annual financial standard as follows to yield net revenue per acre:
(total
annual $$ increase) minus (total annual $$ forest operating expenses)
4,946 acres *
Calculate a 5-year average financial standard using the annual standards for each of the last 5 years.
Maintain the 5-year average harvest level so as not to exceed the sustained capacity of the forest at any time.
Maintain a mix of habitats capable
of supporting diverse and healthy wildlife populations, defined
by the following habitat acreage:
· 0
- 9 years regeneration (500 acres)
· 19
- 24 years, closed single canopy (350 acres)
· 10
- 24 years, under story with herb/shrub layer (400 acres)
· 25
- 50 years, layered with 2 or more canopies (1,250 acres)
· Over
50 years, older forest structure (500 acres).
Maintain the following minimum number
of contiguous habitat unit sizes with trees 25 years and older:
· 500
acres - one
· 250
acres - one
· 150
acres - one
Leave snags and wildlife trees consistent with the established Priority Habitats and Species goals.
Maintain riparian areas in an unmanaged, long-term protected status. Meet this goal best by using RMZ (Riparian Management Zone) and buffer zones consistent with Forest and Fish regulations.
Maintain conifer species in riparian areas.
Maintain the current gate system limiting access of motorized vehicles during critical reproductive seasons.
Continue to conduct population surveys as required to be knowledgeable about species present as well as population trends or impacts.
Connect RMZ (Riparian Management Zone) areas to key upland habitats with corridors of timber over 25 years old.
Maintain passage for fish in all life stages at road system water crossings.
Balance harvesting by individual watershed basins.
Reduce stream sedimentation by disconnecting road drainage from streams.
Encourage flat tail beaver presence with "no trapping" policy.
Maintain the Sylvia Creek Forestry Trail and an inter-connected trail system with Lake Sylvia State Park.
Identify areas for non-motorized recreation, place signs, and encourage this type of recreation.
Identify areas for ATV (all-terrain vehicles) and motorized recreation, and place signs to encourage this type of recreation in the designated areas.
Prepare and make forest road and trail maps available to the public.
Install informational signs regarding forest use, in appropriate locations.
