[nct-l] Fwd: BOUNCE nct-l@backcountry.net: Message too long (>40000 chars)

>
>Folks,
>
>Feel-good article by Bill Menke in the latest NorthStar notwithstanding, 
>the Forest Service is gearing up for some massive logging along the North 
>Country Trail in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest.
>
>I am a member of the North Country Trail Association, and have completed 
>the 95-mile segment of the NCT through the Allegheny NF. It is a great 
>section of trail, and I look forward to doing it again. However, I do not 
>look forward to walking past clearcuts and other logging in the near 
>future.
>
>The Forest Service has recently denied our appeal of their massive 
>"Duck/Sheriff" logging plan for the Allegheny. This logging will cut over 
>3,500 acres of the Allegheny, a significant portion of which will happen 
>right along the NCT. No less than 9 cutting units of the Duck/Sheriff 
>logging project will cut up to and across, or in very close proximity to, 
>the North Country National Scenic Trail.
>
>The purpose of the Duck/Sheriff logging is to provide highly lucrative 
>hardwood sawtimber, such as black cherry (which sells for > $2,000 per 
>thousand board feet), from our public Allegheny NF to private timber 
>profiteers. It is also designed to perpetuate artificially high levels of 
>early to mid successional, and highly profitable, hardwoods like black 
>cherry and red oak in the future. These species would eventually give way 
>to others like eastern hemlock and American beech if successional processes 
>were allowed to continue.
>
>The North Country Trail Association's Policy on Timber Harvesting asks that 
>the following criteria be followed:
>
>"No cutting be allowed within fifteen feet of the trail. This would allow a 
>thirty foot wide corridor of uncut woodland to cross a harvest area."
>
>In addition, Bill Menke has stated in the past that "trees with the [NCT] 
>blazes and markers should be protected."
>
>I have attached a photo [LIST OWNER NOTE: photo too big- deleted from 
>message] taken along the NCT earlier this year in the Duck/Sheriff logging 
>area which demonstrates that there is no concern for the trail corridor 
>here. Trees are marked to be cut all along the trail (yellow diagonal paint 
>slashes), and the tree in the right foreground (a black cherry tree - big 
>surprise) with the NCT marker has even been marked for logging. Note that 
>the person marking the tree apparently felt it was necessary to add an 
>extra splotch of paint directly over the NCT marker itself, as if to send a 
>belligerent message to NCT hikers.
>
>Time is running short. Cutting on the Duck/Sheriff logging project could 
>conceivably begin as early as late January. Please contact acting Allegheny 
>National Forest Supervisor Michael Hampton and ask him to withdraw all 
>cutting units of the Duck/Sheriff logging project that are scheduled to 
>occur along the NCT. Minimally, these would include cutting units A17, A18, 
>A19, A26, B4, B5, B10, C15, and D22.
>
>He can be reached at: (814) 723-5150 or Office of the Supervisor, Allegheny 
>National Forest, P.O. Box 847, Warren, PA, 16365.
>
>The Forest Service is also planning several other logging projects that 
>will not be implemented "very sensitively" along the NCT in the Allegheny 
>NF. These include the Pierson, Eagle Mills, and the East Side Project 
>timber sales. The Eagle Mills timber sale includes clearcutting right up to 
>the NCT. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like any further 
>information on these sales or other activities the Forest Service has 
>planned along the NCT in the Allegheny National Forest. I can also email 
>you photos of other trees marked for logging if you would like to see more.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Kirk Johnson Allegheny Defense Project P.O. Box 245 Clarion, PA 16214 (814) 
>223-4996 kjohnson@alleghenydefense.org http://www.alleghenydefense.org
>
>

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