The original Framework Plan was balanced by allowing fuel reduction while protecting old forest habitat and the associated animals. It encouraged growth of mid-sized trees to create old-growth that has been almost eliminated by past logging practices that left the forest in the shape it is in today. There is plenty of work to do around communities in Defense Zones, where surface and ladder fuels can be removed by thinning from below including taking up to 30” trees without taking larger trees in remote areas.

These are some of the claims made by the Forest Service:

Forest Service Claim: The revised plan will better protect homes and communities.

Fact: The revision that allows logging of large, fire-resistant trees far from development does nothing to protect homes and communities and fails to adequately address surface and ladder fuels. The emphasis of 75% of the work in the original Framework should remain in the wildland/urban interface areas.

Forest Service Claim: The revised plan will reduce the risk of fire by cutting large trees to reduce the canopy.

Fact: Logging large trees is not necessary to reduce fire risk. The focus must be on reducing the most flammable fuels in the forest, known as surface and ladder fuels. Moreover, logging can increase fire severity by leaving behind highly combustible twigs and needles, while loss of tree canopy encourages the growth of flammable brush, increases wind speed and air temperature and decreases humidity in the forest, exacerbating fire conditions.

Forest Service Claim: The revised plan protects old growth and large trees.

Fact: The new plan fails to recognize old growth as a special resource and manages it under the same standards as the rest of the forest, standards that will degrade and reduce the amount of high quality old growth in the Sierra. The new plan nearly triples the amount of logging in the Sierra and allows large, 30" diameter trees to be cut across the entire landscape. There will be fires that destroy old-growth habitat. The Forest Service and the media will categorize the total acreage of these fires as catastrophic fires. Actually only a small part of fire damage is catastrophic. Much of the fire in old-growth is beneficial.

Forest Service Claim: Logging and selling large trees can offset the cost of removing brush and smaller trees.

Fact: Timber sales may generate short-term revenue, but carry a great cost in the long-term. Loss of scenic values negatively impacts tourism and recreation, the main economic engines in most Sierra counties. There is also no guarantee that the revenue will be used to remove the brush and non-merchantable trees. This money comes from a different source.

The Framework was a ten-year plan that was to be monitored to see if was meeting the goals of increasing old-growth, protecting aquatic areas and hardwoods, reducing noxious weeds, and reducing fire danger. If the Forest Service would spend their money on implementing the original Framework instead of wasting money on expensive revision efforts, the forests would be better off and the communities safer.