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ALERT - December 4, 2006: Protect Our Woods joins allies to submit a response to the Draft Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the German Ridge Restoration Project in Hoosier National Forest17f. Prescribed Burning (Part 6 of 6)14. MONITORING AS A PERCENTAGE OF FIRE FUNDSMonitoring should be a critical component of each burning project. The public needs to see the record on how much money or what percent of the project’s money would be spent on monitoring.15. MONITORING OF WILDLIFE POPULATIONSThe public needs to see the actual population numbers of wildlife that might be affected by the burning project, not just the computer projections.For example, what small organisms are directly burned in the leaf litter, what food sources are eliminated, how long until these populations can recover if they are in the surrounding area? The reduction of the canopy cover promised by the Forest Service will result in a drier environment. How does this affect amphibians who are dependent on moisture? The cutting of trees around streams and small pools could result in changes in water chemistry, temperature, and amount of time water remains in pools. We need to see monitoring data on these questions. What organisms are adversely affected by the land being dried out by fire? 16. DAMAGE TO PLANTS AND RHIZOMESFrom “Fire in Eastern Oak Forests: Delivering Science to Land Managers”, there is evidence from Forest Service researcher Todd Hutchinson that prescribed burns do direct heat damage to herbs and possibly to below ground rhizomes.17. INCREASE IN INVASIVE SPECIESThere is a very high possibility that invasive species may increase with prescribed burns, prompting the Forest Service to want to use more chemical sprays to control them.From the FEIS, 3.3.1 Significant Issue 6: Effects on Nonnative Invasive Plant Species “Activities associated with timber harvest and subsequent prescribed burning have the potential to introduce or spread invasive native and nonnative plant species in the Project area (Figure 3-1). Several nonnative invasive species (NNIS) occur in the Project area understory, including white sweet clover (Melilotus alba), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), stilt grass (Microstegium vimineum), tall fescue (Festuca eliatior), crown vetch (Coronilla varia), and Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) (USDA FS 2003b, USDA FS 2004b). Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is a nonnative woody species that readily invades disturbed areas (such as right-of-ways) within many parts of the Hoosier. Within the German Ridge Project Area, field surveys reported 16 different sites with an undetermined amount of stilt grass along the German Ridge Trail system. The objectives of the Forest Service on this project as it relates to NNIS are to avoid introducing new NNIS and to slow the spread of the existing NNIS. Treated NNIS infestation sites would be monitored. Table 4-8 shows approximate acreages for prescribed burning and silvicultural treatments under each of the alternatives.” Certainly the Forest Service can have an objective of not introducing NNIS to the project area. However, good intentions are pointless when you admit that your actions will lead you to miss your objective! In addition, the Forest Service admits that they do not have the money to deal with the problem as it stands now (from the FEIS, page 113): “With no more attention than there is to NNIS by private landowners and no more funding than the Hoosier has to address this problem, NNIS populations are likely to increase and expand. Without considerable cooperation by private landowners the increase would be nearly the same if the Hoosier were to spend large sums combating NNIS in the project area, but effective control may be achieved in the case of new species that are just getting started in the German Ridge area. Certainly there is potential for NNIS to spread on private lands in accompaniment with the harvest acreage projected for those lands in the next 10 years. The threat of NNIS expansion within the project area is expected to continue in spite of Hoosier control efforts. Even though mitigation measures and monitoring would aid in controlling populations of NNIS on NFS land and forestalling the establishment of new populations, nature, past human activities, and funding for this type of work all conspire against elimination of NNIS.” Finally, there is conflicting information in the FEIS about NNIS. After all the Forest Service has said about burning increasing the presence of NNIS, we see this (from FEIS, Page 112): “Many other national forests report that periodic prescribed fire is necessary and effective as a means of controlling both pine seedlings and invasive exotics (German Ridge Specialist Report 1995, in Project Record).” 18. INCREASE IN GAME SPECIES BECAUSE OF BURNINGForest Service researcher Patrick Keyser said in a fire presentation in 2006 (Influence of Fire on Mammals in Eastern Oak Forests) that there are essentially no empirical studies of fire impacts to game mammal species in the eastern oak forest. In fact, there is evidence that if oak hickory does sprout after a fire, that we may actually increase the population of deer, a species that is already in overabundance.19. LOSS OF INSECT POPULATION BECAUSE OF BURNINGDr. Stanard of the University of Illinois showed the loss of diversity of insect population from burning as opposed to non burned areas.These insect populations need to be monitored and analyzed in the cumulative effects section of the EIS. If insect populations go down, how will bats and other wildlife be affected? Dr. Stanard has also said that the roads and other impacts are cumulative impacts to harming these species populations, but this has not been analyzed. 20. LOSS OF SOIL BIODIVERSITY THROUGH BURNINGRecently, there has been a lot of new information about the high level of biodiversity in forest soils, especially the role of mushrooms and other fungi (see for example, the writings of Paul Stamets). While the EIS does mention that fire will lead to a reduction in fungi, there is no analysis of the effects of losing these microorganisms on the ecosystem (from the German Ridge FEIS p. 170):“Soil microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, and fungi are affected by wildfires and prescribed fires. Prescribed burns usually lead to a short-term reduction in populations of soil microorganisms, but this effect is not predictable due to the variations in fire intensity and site factors. The abundance of soil microorganisms involved in nutrient cycling usually declines due to fire. Research generally indicates that immediately after a fire, there would be an increased number of bacteria and a decreased number of algae and fungi (Pritchett and Fisher 1987). Heat from forest fires can also have a detrimental impact on soil mycorrhizae (symbiotic organisms that allow the absorption of nutrients) found in the upper few inches of soil. Literature indicates that reduced levels of mycorrhizae negatively impact some seedling survival and growth, but the effects vary from site to site (Walstad et al. 1990). Lower soils temperatures, found to occur during underburning prescription burns (such as in Alternative A), would result in fewer impacts to soil mycorrhizae than higher temperatures typically observed with natural and uncontrolled wildfires (Walstad et al. 1990). In addition, soil microorganisms are adversely affected by an increase in temperature from sunlight exposure (Pritchett and Fisher 1987). Since most of the main forest canopy would remain intact after prescription burning has been completed the amount of direct sunlight on the forest floor would remain constant and there would not be a dramatic increase in soil temperatures (Armson 1977). As a result, impacts to soil microorganisms after the prescription burns have been completed would be minimized, but it would still take several years for the number and composition of microorganisms to return to pre-burn levels as natural succession occurs and other restoration activities are completed. How is it possible that the forest canopy would remain intact after it is logged? What other restoration activities would be completed? What studies have been done on the Hoosier after prescribed burns to verify the effects on soil microorganism? Click here for Part 18. Illegal Hoosier-Shawnee Ecological Assessment is Heavily Relied Upon in the Hoosier PlanProtect Our Woods
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