ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES in rocky mountain coniferous ...

Several of the papers presented these past 3 days emphasized the need to leave
an optimum level of residue on the ground after harvest as a source of nutrients, to
maintain and promote soil mycorrhizae, and to promote the presence of beneficial
insects.
The papers pointed out the superiority of prescribed broadcast burning to dozer
pi1 ing and burning for slash disposal and site preparation. Land managers should be
doing more broadcast burning wherever it is feasible to do so. Broadcast burning is
less disruptive to the land than dozer piling and scarification, particularly in
forms of soil erosion and water quality. It also promotes recycling of nutrients,
regeneration of browse, maintenance of soil mycorrhizae, and the presence of benefi-
cial insects, Broadcast burning is perhaps the only practical method for slash
disposal and site preparation on steep slopes. However, modifying harvest practices
to enhance wild1 ife or aesthetics may increase the difficulty and expense of burning
for slash disposal and site preparation.
On State lands timber sales are assessed certain fees to be expended for hazard
reduction, site preparation, and reforestation. When these project funds are spent,
there are no other sources to finance the work. We have to balance the risk and
potential costs with our ability to avoid or control escape fires over the long term
with limited funds. In spite of the improvement in technology in the use of fire,
occasional ly unprecedented freak winds or weather results in escape fires. Weather
forecasting must be improved before broadcast burning can be done economically on a
broader basis.
Of special interest was Dr. Fell in's presentation on the spruce budwom. I have
long felt that spruce budworm spray programs have been something less than successful.
With the current high cost of suitable chemicals, spraying is uneconomical and merely
buys us a 1 ittle time. I feel we have to learn to live with this insect and manage
our forests accordingly. I believe the answer to the spruce budworm problem is to
work towards long-term management to keep the budworm in balance with nature. Ne
will have to expect reduced growth rates and accept a certain amount of losses due to
mortality and manage accordingly.
Roger Hungerford's paper, "~icroenvironmental Response to Harvesting and Residue
Management," a1 so interested me. I have observed situations where clearcutting or
heavy cutting practices were applied several years ago on hot dry sites or frost
pocket situations. Regeneration did not occur or is extremely slow due t~ the severe
microenvironment created by the harvest. Partial cutting to provide more shade and
leaving more debris on the ground would have probably resulted in much more successful
regenerat ion.
Research and education in the past 10 to 15 years has done much to improve our
capabilities to predict the consequences of management actions on the various forest
resources and values. There is still need for more research to further improve our
predictive and management skills to solve the many management problems and avoid
mistakes.
It would be impossible to comment on all of the papers that were presented in
the time allowed. Many of these papers will require further study and analysis, I
am sure that we will integrate a lot of the resource findings into our management
program.