Section 1.24. Management of state and county forests.

 

(1)  The natural resources board's objective for the management of state forests and other department properties where timber cutting is carried out and county forests is to grow forest crops by using silvicultural methods that will perpetuate the forest and maintain diversified plant and animal communities, protect soil, watersheds, streams, lakes, shorelines and wetlands, in a true multiple-use concept. In the management of the forests, it shall be the goal of the board to insure stability in incomes and jobs for wood producers in the communities in which the state and county forest lands are located, and to increase employment opportunities for wood producers in future years. Whenever possible, large sale contracts shall be for 4 years which will assist wood producers in dealing with uneven demand and prices for their products.

(2)  To achieve this objective, sale areas or cutting blocks and timber harvest operations will be planned through an intra-departmental inter-disciplinary review process when 10-year plans are developed in cooperation with the affected county to optimize management practices; to recognize the long-term values of preserving the integrity of the soil; to assure the maintenance of water quality; and to achieve multiple objectives of forest land management. Although multiple use shall be the guiding principle on state and county forests, the board recognizes that optimization of each use will not be possible on every acre. Desirable practices include:

(a) Fully utilizing available topographic maps, aerial photographs and soil surveys and combining these with local knowledge or field reconnaissance to ascertain on-the-ground conditions.

(b) Wherever practical, use perennial streams as harvest-cutting boundaries with provision for a streamside management zone to protect stream bank integrity and water quality, and with skidding planned away from these streams and the adjacent streamside management zones.

(c) An appropriate silvicultural system and cutting design should be planned to optimize economic skidding distances, to minimize road densities and unnecessary road construction and for efficient establishment and management of subsequent forest crops.

(d) Cutting boundaries should utilize topographic terrain, ridges, roads and forest type changes where ownership patterns permit and should provide a harvest area size consistent with economical skidding, available logging equipment, silvicultural requirements and other management objectives.

(e) Plan cutting layouts to avoid leaving narrow unmanageable strips of timber susceptible to storm damage and windthrow.

(3)  Department properties and county forests shall be zoned and managed primarily for aesthetic values in selected areas as identified in the master plan to recognize the importance of scenic values to the economy of the state. When clearcutting can be used to develop specialized habitat conditions within the forest, i.e., savanna type openings for sharp tail grouse management or is the appropriate silvicultural system, due consideration shall be given to the attainment of biological diversity of the future forest, the development of edge for wildlife, a variety of age classes in future growth and aesthetic quality of the area. Clearcutting is a silvicultural system usually applicable to intolerant species and is defined for purposes of this policy as a timber removal practice that results in a residual stand of less than 30 feet of basal area per acre upon completion of a timber sale. Furthermore, as the existing acreage of overmature even-aged stands change, the long-range goal of the board shall be to increase the intensities of professional management on the state and county forests.

(4)  Special management practices shall apply to eagle and osprey nesting sites, deer yards, to lake and stream shoreline zones, to sensitive soil types, to springs and important watersheds, to selected aesthetically managed roadsides and to land use zones identified in the master plan as managed more restrictive.

(5)  Block type plantings of a single species that create a monotype culture within an area shall be discouraged. Plantations shall be established to achieve a more aesthetically pleasing appearance and to provide for added diversity of type. Planting will be accomplished by varying the direction of the rows or contouring to create a more natural appearance, planting on the contour, using shallow furrows or eliminating furrows where practical. In planting adjacent to a major roadway, the first rows should be parallel to the roadway to meet aesthetic concern and provide game cover. Existing and new plantations will be thinned at the earliest opportunity and periodically thereafter to develop an understory for wildlife habitat and a more natural environment.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1977, No. 264 , eff. 1-1-78.