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Show Bark Beetle Infestation Requires Quick Action ESCALANTE Spruce bark beetle populations are at outbreak levels in the Coyote Hollow area of the Escalante Ranger District. To combat this outbreak, the Forest Service has just completed its assessment for harvesting the Engelmann spruce trees that are being attacked by the insect. The assessment is now available for public review and comment. Unlike areas on Cedar Mountain, Moun-tain, the bark beetle populations in the Coyote Hollow area have not reached the epidemic stage. Forest Service experts say that using tools such as timber harvest to combat the outbreak are much more effective if they can be activated early. Delays in harvesting could seriously affect the Forest Service's efforts at keeping large Engelmann spruce trees alive. District Ranger Kevin Schul-koski, Schul-koski, in a letter to concerned citizens, citi-zens, wrote that a 1993 Final Environmental Envi-ronmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) on the Coyote Hollow area had stipulated stip-ulated several activities for the 3,750-acre area that included timber harvest, pre-commercial thinning, planting, old growth management, visual enhancement, road construction, construc-tion, and travel management. Currently, all but timber harvest, har-vest, pre-commercial thinning, and planting have been implemented but he wrote that they are in progress. prog-ress. He said that 50 to 60 percent of the area has been logged. Schulkoski's letter stated that the agency's objective of diversity which includes keeping large diameter dia-meter Engelmann spruce alive has been hindered by the beetles invading in-vading the Engelmann spruce. As Escalante District personnel were monitoring the project area, they discovered greater bark beetle activity which has now increased to outbreak level. "This outbreak," wrote Schulkoski, "has the potential poten-tial to drastically reduce the number of live Engelmann spruce in the area, creating conditions similar to those on the Cedar City Ranger District." As a result. Schulkoski has recommended immediate action to that the infestation does not reach epidemic levels. He wrote, "Maintaining a live spruce forest now is important if we are going to provide for ecological, eco-logical, social, and economical sus-tainability sus-tainability in the future. We have learned from our public land stakeholders stake-holders that seeing the vast areas of dead trees, now common on the . Cedar City Ranger District, is not their preferred choice. Experiencing a green living forest is very important impor-tant to these users." To reduce the population level of the bark beetle and to reduce the number of large trees being killed . by the bark beetle, the FEIS discusses discus-ses using timber harvest as the control mechanism. Englemann spruce infested and killed by bark beetle would be harvested. Harvest would be limited to areas in which logging has occurred or in areas currently under contract, eliminating elimina-ting the for new road construction or reconstruction. The Escalante Ranger District suggests that the environmental and social effects of the additional tree removal have already been addressed in the 1993 FEIS for the Coyote Hollow Timber Sale. The findings on the bark beetle are documented in a Supplemental Information Report Re-port which is now available for review and public comment. Comments may be sent to District Ranger, Escalante Ranger District, P.O. Box 246, Escalante, UT 84726. Schulkoski wrote that they are most effective if received by March 13. Following their review and analysis, the Forest Supervisor will make the final decision on the course of action. |