Forest Service Plans Logging and Development in Proposed Smith Creek Wilderness: Your Comments Needed Now!

Situated in the midst of mid-Missouri’s population centers of Columbia, Fulton, and Jefferson City, the Cedar Creek District of the Mark Twain National Forest is much-used and much-beloved. And no portion of the Cedar Creek District is mor e special or better loved than the beautiful and still surprisingly remote Smith Creek proposed Wilderness Area above and below the old Rutherford Bridge connecting Boone and Callaway Counties. For more than 25 years, conservationists have worked with the Forest Service to respect and protect the authentic wilderness character of Smith Creek’s streams, bluffs, pinnacles, forests, wildlife, and solitude. In 2007, Smith Creek was included in a statewide proposal along with six other Missouri areas for designation as a federal Wilderness Area.

But now Smith Creek is threatened as part of the proposed Southwest Project. Through this project, the Forest Service plans extensive management and development within the proposed Smith Creek Wilderness. Because of their significant impacts, such activities would effectively and permanently preclude future Wilderness designation of the recently acquired Epple Tract, a critical part of the proposed Smith Creek Wilderness with frontage on Cedar Creek.

Activities proposed in the Epple Tract of Smith Creek include:

· Even-aged logging (Shelterwood/Seed Tree)

· Uneven-aged logging, clearing groups up to two acres

· Road development

· Construction of two parking areas and a boat access

· Cattle grazing, fence construction, and fertilizer applications

· Prescribed fire

While some management may be of benefit to the overall landscape, much of the Southwest Project, including Smith Creek, emphasizes even-aged management, such as clearcut and shelterwood (two-stage clearcut) logging. Even-aged logging does not mimic natural processes in this area, and serves only the interests of subsidized resource extraction from our public lands. The economy in Boone and Callaway Counties, unlike much of the Ozarks, does not rely on timber, making it even more inappropriate to promote this type of management here.

But while there are problems with the Southwest Project as a whole, our immediate concern is the impact on the proposed Smith Creek Wilderness. The Cedar Creek District is the most fragmented and sparsely forested district in the Mark Twain National Forest, and the beautiful, ecologically-rich landscape of Smith Creek is unique in this setting. The management activities proposed here constitute an intensive level of development, and would needlessly destroy the remote naturalness of this area. Much of the management for the Epple Tract of Smith Creek does not make environmental or economic sense, and the most unique resources of Smith Creek would be sacrificed.

A coalition of organizations, individuals, and businesses around the state has endorsed a proposal for long overdue Wilderness designation of seven critical areas in the Mark Twain National Forest. Since adoption of the 2005 Forest Plan, the Forest Service has already proposed logging two of these areas (Lower Rock Creek and Smith Creek). It is now clearer than ever that Wilderness designation of all seven areas is critical for the long-term protection of Missouri’s diminishing and endangered Wilderness resource.

For more information, visit www.mowild.org, or contact scottm@mowild.org or quercusstellata@gmail.com.

Comments on the Southwest Project are due by May 16. Please contact the Forest Service today. While composing your own comments is best, you can send (and edit) a comment letter directly from http://www.heartwood.org/action.html?id=148

To send a letter by mail or your personal email account, send comments to:

Elrand D. Denson

Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District

108 South Sam Houston Blvd.

Houston, MO 65483

-OR-

comments-eastern-mark-twain-rolla@fs.fed.us (subject line: Southwest Project #21888).

The Southwest Project documents can be downloaded at http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/marktwain/projects/projects/30801/ The North Zone maps cover the Smith Creek area.

Click here to send comments, or use these suggested comments for your letter

· The Forest Service needs to treat the Epple Tract as part of the entire Smith Creek roadless area.

· The Forest Service should not build any roads, parking areas, or fences, or allow cattle grazing, fertilizer applications, or logging in the Epple Tract of the Smith Creek proposed Wilderness.

· The proposed parking area and boat access for Cedar Creek in the Epple Tract is unnecessary and will only invite trash dumping and a party atmosphere, degrading this special area. Cedar Creek can only be floated during rare high water events, and other access points are available, making this development unneeded. As it's only ½ mile from the county road, and along an old road grade, hiking to the creek is not difficult.

· The Wilderness character of Smith Creek and the Epple Tract is the most uncommon and rare resource in the Cedar Creek District. This value should not be degraded by roads, resource extraction, and grazing.

· Timber is not a significant part of the local economy, and timber production should not be part of the Southwest Project’s design. Even-aged rotations do not mimic natural occurrences, and should not be included in the project. This is a perfect area for non-commercial management and rehabilitation.

For the Forests,

Your friends at Missouri Forest Alliance, the Missouri Wilderness Coalition, and Heartwood