Summary: The Regional Ecosystem Office (REO) interagency Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) Work Group has concluded its review of the documents provided by the Forest regarding proposed activities in LSRs within the anticipated action of Tugboat Thinning Project, Umpqua National Forest. The REO, based upon the review by the LSR Work Group, concurs with the Umpqua National Forest in its findings of consistency with the Standards and Guidelines (S&Gs) under Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) for the Tugboat LSR Thinning Project.

Basis for the Review: Silviculture treatments in LSRs are subject to REO review under the NWFP S&Gs (C-12) if they do not meet existing criteria in the LSR Assessment or the exemption criteria for commercial thinning in the REO Memorandum #694 "Criteria to Exempt Specific Silvicultural Activities in Late-Successional Reserves and Managed Late-Successional Areas from Regional Ecosystem Office Review" dated July 9, 1996.

Background and Project Description: As required by the NWFP S&G (pages C-12, C-13), the Umpqua National Forest prepared a Late-Successional Reserve Assessment (LSRA) for the 508,000-acre LSR-222. LSR-222 is encompassed along with four other LSRs in the South Cascades LSRA. The South Cascades LSRA was completed and reviewed by the REO in February 1998. The Tugboat LSR Thinning Project area covers about 2,571 total acres in the 37,400 acre Steamboat Watershed Planning Area.

The North Umpqua Ranger District is proposing a commercial thinning project in order to accelerate the development of late-successional habitat in 40- to 50-year-old uniform, overstocked managed stands. In total, 1,645 acres in 65 stands are proposed for thinning, leaving 926 acres unthinned. The proposed thinning prescriptions utilize REO exemption criteria for managed stands in many stands. However, the Forest is requesting a review of several treatments that are not currently covered by the LSRA or REO exemption memos. Stand prescriptions developed for these treatments respond to current conditions found within certain stands where the goal is to increase stand diversity by reintroducing cedar and pine species reducing fire risk over time.

(1) Some treatments in the Tugboat proposal leave less than 10 percent of the stands as untreated to prepare the stand for improving diversity by planting incense cedar and sugar pine trees. Of the 65 managed stands proposed for treatment in the Tugboat planning area, 14 would have less than 10 percent of the stand area untreated. These 14 stands total 425 acres, of which, 12 acres would be unthinned (2.8 percent). When the planning area is examined as a whole, the Forest has left 36 percent of the area proposed for treatment unthinned (926 acres out of 2,571 acres).

REO memorandum #694 specifies that treatment stands will have 10 percent or more of the treated stands left in unthinned patches to improve diversity. The proposed treatments will improve stand diversity by preparing the stand for planting incense cedar and sugar pine trees and maintaining the stand through time by reducing fire risk.

(2) In the planning area, it has been determined silviculturally that some stands may not respond well to a heavy thinning or to the creation of gaps, or that some stands would be further developed by a future thinning. Some local site conditions (such as percent slope, vegetation type, etc. as disclosed in the watershed analysis) are not conducive to heavy thinning treatments.

REO memorandum #694 "Criteria to Exempt Specific Silvicultural Activities in Late-Successional Reserves and Managed Late-Successional Areas from Regional Ecosystem Office Review" (dated July 9, 1996 and amended on September 30, 1996 by REO memorandum #801) specifies that treated stands will have 3- to 10-percent of thinning in heavy-thin treatments of less than 50 trees per acre (tpa) to provide stand structure and diversity. Some treatments in the Tugboat proposal depart from this criterion in some stands by not dropping the thinning density down to this level. The Forest has proposed a thinning density of 70- to 100-trees per acre in six stands (307 acres) in order to maintain structural stability, while still increasing stand diversity by thinning to varying levels. In these six stands, areas of heavy thinning (less than 50 trees per acre or tpa) are not prescribed.

Twelve stands (totaling 611 acres) will have more than 10 percent of the stand area (108 acres, or 17 percent of the total acres) in very heavy thinning (20- to 40-tpa). This treatment will accomplish three objectives:

(3) Gaps larger than one-quarter acre are prescribed in four units to effectively re-introduce cedar and pine, and manage for reduced fire risk through time. In Unit 18 (totaling 65-acres), three one-half-acre gaps would be created (for a total of 1.5 acres); Units 24, 26, and 45 (totaling 189 acres) would have eight two-acre gaps (for a total of 16 acres, representing 8 percent of the total area).

REO memorandum #694 "Criteria to Exempt Specific Silvicultural Activities in Late-Successional Reserves and Managed Late-Successional Areas from Regional Ecosystem Office Review" (dated July 9, 1996) outlined the criterion for gaps in 3- to 10 percent of the resulting stand that are one-quarter- to one-half-acre in size. REO memorandum #694 was amended by REO memorandum #801 (dated September 30, 1996) changing the criterion to one-quarter acre for the benefit of improving habitat for small mammals. The Forest departs from this criterion in some areas to improve conditions favorable for growing incense cedar and sugar pine to improve stand diversity and manage for reduced fire risk through time.

Review of the Project: The activities reviewed by the LSR Work Group were those submitted for review by the North Umpqua Ranger District, Umpqua National Forest. The Work Group reviewed the following:

1. Request for Tugboat LSR Thinning Project to not have all stands left with at least 10 percent of the stand area unthinned (REO Memorandum #694) and incorporated in the South Cascades LSRA, pg. 141).
2. Request for Tugboat LSR Thinning Project to vary the amount of thinning on some stands and not require all stands to be heavily thinned (REO Memorandum #694) and incorporated in the South Cascades LSRA, pg. 141).
3. Request for Tugboat LSR Thinning Project to have gaps larger than the one-quarter acre specified in REO Memorandums #694 and amended by #801 and incorporated in the South Cascades LSRA, pg. 141.

The Work Group’s review was based on the information within these documents, briefings, and conference calls.

The interagency LSR Work Group review concluded that the proposed treatments in LSRs meet the objectives for managing LSRs. This conclusion was reached in part for the following reasons:

• The stand attributes are not currently complex, diverse stands that will soon meet and retain late-successional conditions without treatment. (REO Memorandum #694).
• The stands are overstocked. (REO Memorandum #694).
• The proposed treatments would accelerate development of structural conditions found in late-successional forests by:

1. Promoting the development of large bole trees, multi-layered canopies (vertical diversity), and plant diversity (C-12).
2. The treatment is primarily an intermediate treatment designed to increase tree size, crown development, or other desirable characteristics (S&Gs, page B-5 and REO Memorandum #694).
3. Maintaining or creating coarse woody material such as snags and logs on the forest floor (C-13).
4. The prescription is supported by empirical information or modeling indicating that achievement of late-successional conditions would be accelerated. (REO Memorandum #694).
5. The treatments are primarily an intermediate thinning, and harvest for the purpose of regenerating a second canopy layer in existing stands is no more than an associated, limited objective as described in the project description. (REO Memorandum #694).

• The proposed treatments would improve or maintain the growth and health of young stands (C-12).
• The proposed treatments reduce long term buildup of fuel and increase crown spacing to lower the risk of catastrophic wildfire (C-13).

Conclusion: Based upon the interagency REO LSR Work Group’s review, the REO concurs with the Umpqua National Forest’s conclusion that the Tugboat LSR Thinning Project is consistent with the objectives of the Northwest Forest Plan S&Gs for managing LSRs.

cc:

Carol Cushing, District Ranger, Umpqua National Forest
Phil Mattson, RO
KJ Silverman, RO
LSR Work Group
Greg Lesch, Products and Planning Staff, Umpqua NF
Debbie Anderson, Forest Environmental Coordinator/IDT Leader, Umpqua NF
Raymond Davis, Forest Biologist, Umpqua NF
Kim Mellen-McLean, Chair, LSR Workgroup