Logging is being used as a tool for this project, but don’t let the commercial aspect fool you: This is first and foremost a fire fuels reduction and habitat conservation project.
The main difference between this project and a noncommercial project is that smaller trees are being sold for chips rather than being piled and burned. Many restoration projects sell merchantable timber to offset treatment costs, and this project is no different.
The property owners involved in this project want to return a fire-resilient and climate-adapted ecosystem to this site, which in this case requires significant changes in species composition and forest stand structure.
The current phase of the Forest Resiliency on Ashland Loop is similar to what the Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project (AFR) refers to in this video as “Ground-based Forest Density Management:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fBDPYjNTbU
Some parts of the project area are composed entirely of small (less than 6 inch diameter) Douglas fir so these spots will seem bare, but keep in mind that logging is only the first phase. Any patch determined to be excessively large will be planted with native oak and pine.
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