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Logging slated east of Kamas

Patrick Parkinson, Of the Record staff

The High Uintas Preservation Council is against a plan that would harvest trees near Whitney Reservoir east of Kamas.

The West Bear Vegetation Management Project is located about 40 miles south of Evanston, Wyo., and would require almost eight miles of new temporary roads.

"Language is everything vegetation management project translates, in this case, to timber sale!" the June edition of the High Uintas Preservation Council newsletter states. "The desire to proceed with constructing eight miles of roads and turn hundreds of acres of forests into cubic feet appears to be the prime motive."

But U.S. Forest Service officials claim timber harvesting and prescribed fires are necessary for stimulating tree regeneration. They intend to clear spruce, fir, mixed conifers and aspen off about 1,686 acres of land in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

"It’s a large area," said Larry Johnson, a timber management coordinator in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

Prescribed fires and timber sales could occur in the area in the next five years, he explained.

Mature trees are removed to "create uneven regeneration of the stands," Johnson said.

"Aspen, really needs disturbance to regenerate — either fire or timber harvest," he said. "It stimulates suckering from the root systems."

Acting Forest Supervisor Dave Myers approved the project June 11 and there were 45 days to appeal the decision. Contact Johnson at (307) 789-3194 for information about how to file an appeal. A copy of the decision is available at fs.fed.us/r4/wcnf/projects/decisions/index.shtml.

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