Loggers: Forest Service Policies Thwart Logging

As crews continue to face off against a fast-moving wildfire in northern Colorado, some in the timber industry say the area's fire danger has been heightened by U.S. Forest Service policies and an economy that discourages them from harvesting millions of acres of dead trees that stand ready to burn. As bad as the fire has been, timber experts say the forests of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming stand primed for more devastating burns. Wyoming State Forester Bill Crapser said poor forest conditions in that area have increased fire danger. "We do have a real unhealthy forest situation out there," Crapser said. "We have too many trees per acre ... and we need to look at ways to thin some of those forests out." Intermountain Resources runs a large sawmill in Montrose, Colo., on the state's western slope. It has been one of the largest logging operators in southern Colorado and northern Wyoming. But the company has been in court-ordered receivership since May 2010, and it plans to auction its mill equipment next month. Pat Donovan, receiver for Intermountain Resources, said Thursday the equipment will be sold with the expectation that a new owner will keep the mill operating. He said the mill employs 90 workers, while another 90 or so drivers and loggers rely on it for jobs. Intermountain was the largest holder of Forest Service logging contracts in Colorado and southern Wyoming when it went into receivership, Donovan said. The federal economic stimulus program also helped put the squeeze on Intermountain before it went into receivership, Donovan said. The Forest Service granted "stewardship" contracts in recent years in which it paid some logging operators up to $2,000 an acre to remove beetle-killed trees, Donovan said. But at the same time, he said, the Forest Service refused to release Intermountain from contracts that required it to pay up to $800 an acre to log. He said Intermountain bid on stewardship contracts but didn't end up getting any. A major logging contractor on the Wyoming side of the forest likewise says he believes some Forest Service policies have hampered removal of dead trees. Thompson Logging of Kamas, Utah, has operated a saw mill in Encampment, a small town in southern Wyoming, since early 2011. Terry Thompson of the company said the mill employs about 30 people. Despite fire conditions, Thompson said the Forest Service is charging fees to move logging trucks through the forest, making timber cutting there less attractive. Thompson said his company is cutting a timber sale near Steamboat Springs, Colo., and that the Forest Service charges $168 per truckload to use 40 miles of road to reach the mill in Encampment. "Hell, they should be paying us to take that stuff out of there," Thompson said...more