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Area forests to be thinned out By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � Superior Lumber Co. will cut and haul 15 million board feet of Douglas fir over the next three years in a thinning project to reduce fire hazard on fuel-loaded hillsides between Jacksonville and Ruch. An estimated 3,750 log-truck trips will go through downtown Jacksonville from two different Bureau of Land Management timber sales that stretch from Wood Rat Mountain near Ruch to Mount Isabelle above Jacksonville. "The sales are designed to thin the smaller diameter trees, to reduce the density and the fire hazard," said Steve Armitage, forest manager for the BLM�s Ashland Resource Area. "We�re trying to keep fire out." The trees are small, most 13 inches in diameter or less, and suited for Superior Lumber Co.�s sawmill in Glendale, which specializes in small trees, he said. Fire used to be more common in the Forest Creek drainage, where some miners burned the vegetation down to the soil searching for gold, especially from 1865 to 1885, Armitage said. More than 100 years later, Douglas fir � the first and hardiest post-fire species � grow thickly together, but with thin trunks. "You end up with a dense stand that�s prone to catastrophic fire," Armitage said. "When you thin out the small-diameter trees, it gives the big trees a chance to grow." It�s possible Superior Lumber Co. will begin logging this winter, although it may wait until timber prices have improved, he said. The BLM sold the Douglas fir for $50 per 1,000 board feet, but Superior may fetch only $100 at the market. And smaller trees drive up the price of logging, he said. Both the Isabelle Mountain sale and the Poor Bishop sale are located on 3,000 of about 10,000 acres owned by the Bureau of Land Management in the Forest Creek area. The city of Jacksonville owns 1,800 acres in nearby Jackson Creek drainage. Other neighbors include Boise Cascade, Spaulding Lumber and the Motorcycle Riders Association, which maintains an off-road vehicle public park called John�s Peak. Most of the log trucks coming and going from the timber sales will use Forest Creek and Bishop Creek roads, which are located off of Highway 238 about five miles from Jacksonville. But about 100 of the trucks may use Reservoir Road, also called Jackson Creek Road, which intersects with Mary Ann Drive, a city street used by about 100 homes in the Westmont neighborhood. "The long-term effects (of the thinning project) are positive on everybody�s property in the area," Armitage said. "If the fire hazard is reduced, it should help anybody on the edge of us. And if they are doing the same kind of work, it�s further protection." Fire is a threat for all rural property owners, he said. "We have a potential in all of Southern Oregon to have the kind of fires they are having in Montana." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA