Thank you Becky Gillette Residents sound off on Butler Hollow project Becky Gillette Wednesday, January 14, 2015 After hearing from citizens concerned about the proposed Butler Hollow Project, a restoration project designed to address declines in forest health and native plant communities, the U.S. Forest Service will hold an open house Tuesday, Jan. 27 in Cassville, and re-open the public comment period for 12 days from Jan. 27 through Feb. 7. The proposed project affects 18,181 acres of land in the Cassville Unit of the Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF) in Missouri. District Ranger Joseph Koloski said reopening public comments came about because people didn’t become aware of the project until late in the comment period. Residents opposed to the plan said having the public comment period between Thanksgiving and Dec. 22 made it difficult to comment because so many people were busy with holiday activities. Opponents of the project also objected that the only legal notice was placed in a daily newspaper in Springfield, Mo., that is not easily available in the area. Koloski, a wildlife biologist, said he sees a lot of wildlife benefits for both game and non-game species in the project. “I think a lot of people are concerned the size of the project and the number of acres we are talking about,” he said. “One thing I want to make clear is it won’t happen over night. It is going to take time. It will take ten years or more to fully implement this project.” “It is intended to improve forest health, enhance native plant communities, offer dispersed recreation opportunities, and provide timber products,” a summary of the project states. “Mature timber that is susceptible to disease and decline will be removed and encroaching cedar will be cut in order to restore natural communities to desired conditions. A combination of commercial harvest, non-commercial treatments, and prescribed fire would be used to move the area toward the desired condition.” The plan states that historically, fires occurred in the area on average every three years and were instrumental in maintaining open woodlands and glades. Without fire, the forest has become more dense as eastern red cedar and other trees have taken over large areas that once had white oak and post oak as the dominant tree species. Dale and Sharon Becker, owners of Granny’s Place in Eureka Springs, have lived in Butler Hollow for 36 years. They are concerned about smoke from prescribed fires, the potential for erosion and increased flooding from steep areas that are logged, and that use of herbicides to prevent cedar trees from regenerating after being cut would contaminate surface and groundwater supplies. “The goal is to turn 18,000 acres of prime, diverse forest land into open woodlands and glades,” Sharon Becker said. “If it should be open woodlands and glades, it would be just that. There is enough soil to support forests. To maintain the system you propose will require constant manipulation and management at huge taxpayer expense. To sell off our national forests to timber interests for oak trees is a real travesty.” Becker also argues that the poisons and herbicide use proposed to achieve the desired results are anything but natural. “The cedars are on ridge tops and the poisons used can only come down into the karst topography and eventually poison local wells,” Becker said. “The run-off created by erosion from burning such an extensive area will all drain to the Table Rock Lake watershed. Butler Creek empties into the headwaters of Table Rock Lake, a huge recreational area. The town of Beaver and its campground would be affected adversely by the run-off. We experience large rainfall events here, all of which will create adverse effects on the water systems.” Becker said it has taken decades for this perfect, diverse, climax forest to come to its present state. “This plan would destroy 18,000 acres of real forest,” she said. “This ‘experiment’ you call very predictable is not predictable at all except for the outcome of destroying a forest which already provides habitat for plant and animal life.” Becker said the smoke from prescribed fires would adversely impact tourism in the area. Koloski said there is a perception they will burn the entire area at all the same time, but said they would only burn one or two areas per year on a three- to five-year rotation. “The amount of fire on that landscape on any given year will be much less than the entire project area,” he said. “We can control the size and intensity of the fires to achieve the objective. A lot goes into doing prescribed fire. We are very careful about when we burn and consider the wind speed, relative humidity, etc.” Prescribed fires are widely used elsewhere in the country for habitat management, and at times do result in fires that get out of control and burn private lands, sometimes resulting in liability damages. However, proponents say it is safer to burn regularly, as occurred before European settlement, in order to prevent buildup of combustible forest materials that make a wildfire far hotter and more damaging than regular controlled burns. Sometimes fires from the prescribed burns can cause automobile accidents by obscuring vision on highway, and people with breathing problems can be negatively impacted by the air pollution. About 200 private properties adjacent to the MTNF are being given the opportunity to cooperate and allow their lands to be burned, as well. “No landowners we have talked to will allow that, and we certainly won’t allow that,” Becker said. “The sad thing for Eureka Springs is this smoke coming at them when tourism is challenged anyhow. And what provision have they made to protect the wildlife or take care of injured wildlife when the burning is done?” Dale Becker said Butler Hollow is a very special place that is a unique web of interconnected animal and plant communities. “It scares me they can do something this drastic and consider it good for the forest,” Becker said. “You don’t kill the forest and protect it. It is an oxymoron, for sure.” Another major concern is the potential for flooding. About a year ago Butler Hollow received six inches of rain overnight leading to severe flooding. Kate and Andrew Lucariello, who live near Beaver, said Butler Hollow flooding in 2011 and 2013 cut them off from any escape from their home for several days, and caused widespread damage including wiping out the Railway Winery. “Please understand that this flooding occurred without the clear-cutting, burning and herbicide-applied tree removal you are proposing to do,” the Lucariellos said in a letter to the MTNF. “We are extremely concerned for our safety should your clearing plan result in even more loss of riparian buffer along Butler Creek.” The address for the open house Jan. 27 from 4:30-7:30 is the Sho-Me Plaza, 404 State Highway 248, Suite 8, Cassville. Written comments can be submitted to the District Ranger, Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs Ranger District, Rt. 6, Box 614110, Ava, Missouri 65608. Fax comments to (417) 683-5722 or email to [email protected] (subject line: Butler Hollow Project Comments).
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 22:03:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015