When old growth forest canopies are opened up by logging, the fuel load increases, and allows a catastrophic type of fire capable of converting entire mountainsides into persistent shrub fields. In 1995, Weatherspoon and Skinner assessed factors associated with damage to tree crowns from the 1987 fires in the Hayfork area just south of the Salmon watershed. Dense regrowth of shrubs and hardwoods has overtaken conifers, and supports this extreme fire behavior, typically burning intensely and with a high rate of spread. Finally, soils are often burned so hot that they lose their long-term productivity. Today, we stand ready to lose more public forests to mismanagement.
Similar conditions exist across the watershed.
The Forest Service has consistently ignored the cumulative costs of logging on public forests in terms of increased fire risk. Executed this 9 th day of November in Arcata, California. Impact of five post-fire salvage logging systems on soils and vegetation. J of Soil and Water Cons. Stroich S. 1996.