Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

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NacMacFeegle
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Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by NacMacFeegle » October 3rd, 2022, 4:44 pm

[youtube]https://youtu.be/E6f9QUr355Q[/youtube]

This past week I visited the wild and little visited valley of North Siouxan Creek to explore and document the old growth forest that would be destroyed if the Department of Natural Resources goes through with the Beehive Timber Sale. This area was burned a hundred years ago in the Yacolt Burn, and has now regrown into a complex, natural forest full of both big living trees and ancient burned snags. Everywhere I went there was the constant sound of woodpeckers, and I frequently heard larger animals moving in the brush. It's quite clearly a wildlife hotspot, and is prime Northern Spotted Owl habitat.

I spent 4 hours fighting my way through devils club, climbing up and down cliffs, and over gigantic fallen logs, averaging a speed of only around a quarter of a mile per hour. However, I was rewarded with a waterfall that must be quite spectacular at any other time of the year, and the experience of immersing myself in an beautiful and diverse forest of a quality that is vanishingly rare in Southwest Washington.

Beehive is part of a contiguous area of unroaded, never cut, virgin forest that extends for miles between several creek valleys on both state and federal land. This same chunk of de-facto wilderness is also threatened by the imminent Serenity Now Timber Sale, which would erase the Sugar Loaves trail which is the only remaining easy access to Mt. Mitchell.

Both the Beehive and the Serenity Now timber sales MUST be canceled, and the whole of the roadless, ancient Siouxon forest MUST be preserved. Please ask DNR save this place.

Contact:
Hilary Franz: [email protected]
waDNR: [email protected]
Board of Natural Resources: [email protected]

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BigBear
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by BigBear » October 4th, 2022, 8:51 am

Can't call it an ancient forest if it burned down a mere century ago. Your 2nd picture does show a logged area with a replanting on the right side, so it is a candidate for logging. I do think your pictures are quite nice and I have liked the Siouxon Creek area for hiking in prior decades (the damage tot he road has kept me away). It's not #1 on my list for protesting, I think the cuts that are done across trails and creeks (which is supposed to be prohibited) are of concern. And, always of concern is whether the wood is being used to construct something or being shipped overseas for the quick profit. I wish you the best in your efforts to stop logging of ancient forests.

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NacMacFeegle
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by NacMacFeegle » October 4th, 2022, 10:33 am

A burn is not the same as a clearcut. Remnant pre-fire trees exist throughout the uncut Siouxan forest, and the burned trees nurture the next generation, which thanks to natural regeneration is diverse and natural as compared one which is logged. The previously clearcut area you mention is beyond the boundary of the proposed timber sale.

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by Don Nelsen » October 4th, 2022, 10:53 am

The Serenity Now clearcut seems to have stalled out after a few acres were cut at the end of August. A small area was cut by a crew with chainsaws on Aug. 26th and that was followed up with more being cut with heavy equipment between then and Sept. 2nd when I went back to see what had been done. I doubt that the timber company is done with it - perhaps the decline in lumber prices stalled them for a while, or maybe the threat of increased fire danger.

These photos taken about a half mile from the westside trail to Mt. Mitchell.
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I explored some more south of Sugarloaf (on the 2nd) and found new flags and a newly cut "trail" likely defining the edge of a future cut. I worked on the trail starting at the end of the 3000 road for years and know the area well. It's sad to see such a fine example of post fire recovery, a good trail system and a wonderfully diverse 120 year-old natural forest destroyed.

dn
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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NacMacFeegle
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by NacMacFeegle » October 4th, 2022, 5:38 pm

Ugh, that really hurts to see, I drove past the area last week on my way home, but didn't drive out the road to the former trailhead, so I didn't realize they had already started cutting. Absolutely criminal that DNR got away with selling Serenity Now!

The Board of Natural Resources approved the Beehive sale today - the DNR representative presenting the sales spouted a load of garbage when questioned about logging in the Siouxon. Implied that they're just cutting a little bit (hundreds of acres), so why should anyone care? Also spewed some rambling BS about how by logging spotted owl habitat they're actually preserving spotted owl habitat. Basically he waved away the concerns of the many members of the public who voiced objections to the sale, and the board took him at his word. It's clear they didn't bother to do ANY research before hand, and they all rubberstamped this and half a dozen other sales in older forests. That includes Inslee's own representative on the board - so much for our governor being a "climate leader"!

Aimless
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by Aimless » October 4th, 2022, 6:52 pm

Don Nelsen wrote:
October 4th, 2022, 10:53 am
I doubt that the timber company is done with it - perhaps the decline in lumber prices stalled them for a while, or maybe the threat of increased fire danger.
Based on the August and September dates you cited I think that fire restrictions are the more likely explanation for the work stoppage. However little the DNR may regard environmental restrictions when drawing up timber sales, they are Usually very serious about fire safety restrictions. They don't want those 'resources' they sell to go up in flames!

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by Don Nelsen » November 14th, 2022, 10:22 am

I checked the satellite images for yesterday, Nov. 13th, and I can see that there's been no work at all on this timber sale. Also, it looks like just a skiff of snow in the area (The TH is at about 2,300') so it appears you could drive to the TH and still hike to Mt. Mitchell.

Wholesale lumber prices have fallen from north of $1400/1000 board feet earlier this year to the mid $400's as of last week. That's still high from a longer-term historical standpoint but there's room to fall further according to the gurus at Business Insider et al. With the economy where it is, I wouldn't expect any upward movement for a while. I'll bet we have plenty of time to hike Mt. Mitchell before this area is clearcut.

my 2 cents, dn
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

McFarnell
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by McFarnell » September 27th, 2023, 9:50 pm

Anybody have a more recent update? This timber sale makes me sad. That old trail through the area was amazing - does anyone know the history? I saw old, old logs sawed through for the trail. Also found two old cabins along the trail.

Don Nelson, how do you see satellite images from yesterday?

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by Don Nelsen » September 28th, 2023, 9:56 am

McFarnell wrote:
September 27th, 2023, 9:50 pm
Anybody have a more recent update? This timber sale makes me sad. That old trail through the area was amazing - does anyone know the history? I saw old, old logs sawed through for the trail. Also found two old cabins along the trail.

Don Nelson, how do you see satellite images from yesterday?
One of my friends "discovered" the old trail about ten years ago while looking for another way to get to Mt. Mitchell after the usual way was closed off by private landowners. Groups of people poaching bear grass for flower shops had made some minor improvements on the route connecting it to a very old trail with the end of the then fairly new forest road 3000. I liked this new way to get to Mt. Mitchell so started working to clean up the trash left by the poachers and to remove limbs and trees across the route all the way to Mt. Mitchell. Once the timber sale was afoot, I stopped working on the trail so there are quite a few new logs down now.

I accessed the info on-line concerning the sale and by merging the satellite images and the sale info can see that the road system planned is exactly what has now been completed and one of the three tracks planned for logging has been clear cut. I expect the rest will be logged now that there's been a good few days of rain. I haven't been up there since last fall.

I did not see any old cabins and am interested where they are. I walked a lot of the area off-trail and did not find any cabins but did find some campsites and sections of very old trail.

Satellite images are available for the entire world on this site: This is the link to my account for the latest clear photos of the Mitchell area. These low-resolution images are free, but you have to sign up for the service. You can pay for much better resolution if you want.

https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browse ... 2MAPZEN%22

Sometimes you get lucky and can access something from the same day or at the least, very recently but often there are clouds or several days since a good image. You can move back or forward on the timeline by the using the "date" arrows in the upper left of the screen.

dn
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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retired jerry
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Re: Stop the Beehive Timber Sale! Save the Siouxon Ancient Forest

Post by retired jerry » September 28th, 2023, 12:35 pm

Thanks for that link Don, that could be pretty useful to see recent satellite pciture

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