Okanogan and Wenatchee National ForestsFor ests FREE! INSIDE... Forest Service Celebrates 100th Anniversary! Wildland Fires Holden Village Salmon Festival Community Fire Plans Forest Service Lookouts Snoqualmie Pass History Silver Falls Recreation Area And Much More Information About Your Local National Forests Cascade Lookout A Publication of the U.S. Forest Service — 2005 Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests ith this edition of the Cascade Look- moving many of its Budget and Finance positions A Note from the out, I’d like to touch on two topics that to a centralized facility in Albuquerque, New Ware currently affecting the Forest Ser- Mexico. Much of the human resources personnel vice, and especially the Okanogan and Wenatchee activity will also shift to Albuquerque within the Forest Supervisor National Forests. next two years. This process will have an impact In 1905, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s on all Forest Service employees and even the com- Bureau of Forestry became known as the Forest munities in which they live. More than 300 posi- Service, and this year the Forest Service celebrates tions will be relocated between now and October its 100-year anniversary! (See pages 12 and 13 for 2005. Employees who are directly affected by more information). these reorganization plans will have to relocate to This anniversary gives us the opportunity to Albuquerque, obtain other positions, or leave the focus both on our rich history in land stewardship Forest Service. and on our next century of public service. In con- Information Resources, which includes com- junction with this, the Forest Service is introduc- puter technology and two-way radio communi- ing a 5-year effort called New Century of Service. cations, has also gone through a reorganization The objective of the New Century of Service will process. These services are now provided by a be to refl ect on the future of the Forest Service smaller centralized organization with employees while honoring the past. located across the nation. Through New Century of Service activities we One of the goals of this reorganization process will share excellence in our work, programs, and is to free up budget dollars currently being spent ideas, and celebrate 100 years of caring for the land on administration for use in land management. We and serving people. don’t anticipate any growth in our budgets in the James L. Boynton This program will give us the opportunity to foreseeable future, so the only way to get more take pride in what we do, to look at ways of doing money for work on the ground is to redirect it things differently, and to take stock of how well from other areas. we are serving the public. These changes have not been easy, but it is The second topic I’d like to address is the Ad- necessary if we are going to have the funding in ministrative Services reorganization and transition place to provide solid services for a new century of process that is currently going on throughout caring for the land and serving people. Thank you the Forest Service. As part of the Forest Service’s for your patience and support while we make this Financial Improvement Project, the agency will be transition. James L. Boynton Forest Supervisor ew rules which govern revision of Land Besides a collaborative public involvement Public Invited and Resource Management Plans (Forest process, the new planning rules emphasize con- NPlans) for each national forest are being sideration and integration of social, economic, and implemented on the Okanogan and Wenatchee ecological sustainability. Current science must to Collaborate National Forests, and on the Colville National also be considered as Forest Plans are revised. The Forest. One of the main features of the new plan- Forest Service also gains increased capability to ning rules is a requirement that the Forest Ser- respond more rapidly to changing conditions such in Forest Plan vice work more closely with people interested in as wildfi res, new available science, and emerging national forest management. “The new planning threats such as invasive species. Revision rules allow people to help us design and develop “As we collaborate with interested people, we’re Forest Plans rather than react to a set of alterna- going to focus on bringing people with divergent tives developed only by the Forest Service as was viewpoints together. We’re looking to develop Rick Acosta previously the case,” said Jim Boynton, Forest Su- a Forest Plan that sustains economic, social, and Forest Plan Revision pervisor of the Okanogan and Wenatchee National ecological conditions that are benefi cial to both Public Affairs Offi cer Forests. people and the land,” Boynton added. Forest Plans defi ne how the For more information or to fi nd out how to Forest Service manages the collaborate with the Forest Service as it revises its national forests. Each national Forest Plans, please call or write us at the address- forest has its own Forest Plan es below or visit our website at: which establishes the desired condition for the land and www.fs.fed.us/r6/colville/cow resources, and sets broad, general, management direc- Margaret Hartzell tion. According to law, each Forest Plan Revision Team Leader national forest must update and revise its Forest Plan every 509-826-3275 10 to 15 years. The Okanogan, Wenatchee, and Colville Na- Rick Acosta tional Forests’ Plans were last Public Affairs Offi cer & Social Lead completed in 1989, 1990, and 509-664-9210 1988 respectively. The new planning rules in- Email: [email protected] crease public involvement in all phases of Forest Plan develop- ment from beginning to end, U.S. Postal Address: and during development of the Forest Plan Revision Team new required Environmen- Colville, Okanogan, and Wenatchee tal Management System. The National Forests public will also be able to work Okanogan Valley Offi ce with the Forest Service as it 1240 Second Avenue South monitors effectiveness of For- est Plans as forest conditions Okanogan, WA 98840 change, and be able to help develop evaluation reports now required every 5 years. 2 ■ Cascade Lookout hen the Wenatchee and Okanogan able weather and voracious biting insects? “I guess Forests were formed in 1908, the W.W. I haven’t gotten smart enough to get away from Logging Family WBurgess family had already been log- it,” chuckles 81-year-old W.T., who is grandson ging near Plain and Lake Wenatchee for 14 years. of W.W. “You’ve got to make a living.” Today, that tradition continues with Burgess Beyond the chainsaw felling and limbing of Logging of Plain, a small family owned company trees, woods work also requires the attachment of is Older than that occasionally purchases national forest tim- heavy steel cables to logs, the operation of heavy ber sales and also sub-contracts to do logging for equipment like “yarders” that pull the logs to the the Forest larger forest products companies. forest road and “loaders” that put them on trucks For many years the logging took place on pri- headed to a mill. vate land, including railroad-owned lands in upper Chelan County. Then, some timber cutting began on the national forest in the 1930’s, and expanded in later decades. At fi rst, much of the wood was milled into boards to make apple boxes in support of a rapidly expanding orchard industry. After World War II, the national forests helped supply lumber for a booming housing market. Since 1995, the Okanogan and Wenatchee Forests have implemented a ‘Dry Forest Strategy’ which utilizes logging to thin dense fi re-prone forests in mid and lower elevation areas near rural homes and communities. The strategy leaves widely-spaced larger pon- derosa pine, Douglas fi r, and larch, while remov- ing smaller trees and grand fi r which are vulner- able to fi re. “It takes a lot of skill to cut and remove trees while protecting the big trees that are left behind,” said Susan Rinke, Forest Service timber sale offi - cer, who ensures that loggers follow the provisions of the contract that guides a logging operation. “The Burgess family takes a lot of pride in what they do,” she added. “You can even see it on the W.O. (Bill) Burgess driving horses, and George Shugart private forest land they own.” “It’s in the blood, I guess,” says W.P. (Billy), atop a load of logs, near Plain, Washington, in 1921. The family is into its sixth generation since taking a short break from work on the Ridgetop W.W. moved to Plain after his injury in a sawmill Timber Sale on Pole Ridge near Lake Wenatchee. accident in western Washington. Every generation At 24, he represents the youngest generation has had a “William,” right down to 3-week old working in the woods. W.S. (Will). He started woods work in summer months So what keeps a Burgess coming back to tough, between football and basketball camps and started dangerous work in steep terrain with unpredict- working full time at age 20. Dry Forest Strategy thin- ning and prescribed burning is meant to head off devastat- ing wildfi res like those that have scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in central Washington forests since 1970. “Without loggers, it couldn’t be done” Rinke said. “With the six of us work- ing up here, it’s like a family,” Billy added. “It’s not like working in a city. Snow or not, in the morning we’re out here at 6 a.m. working.” Four generations—Lyndy Burgess, W.T. (Bill) Burgess, W.P. (Billy) Burgess, baby W.S. (Will) Burgess, Emelia Burgess, Brandon Burgess, and Jeff Burgess, all members of a Plain area logging family with a long history.