Modified Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol Study For the Saratoga and Encampment Area in Wyoming

Transcription

1 Modified Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol Study For the Saratoga and Encampment Area in Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments January, 2009

2 Table of Contents Background 1 Purpose 1 Requested Information 1 Agencies Included in the CROP study area 2 Volume Offered, Sold, Not Sold and Harvested (2003 to 2009) 3 Projected Volume for 2009 through Projected Volume by Species 8 National Environmental Policy Act 9 Equations Used 10 Prepared by: Office of State Lands and Investments 1100 W. 22 nd Cheyenne, WY (307) forestry@state.wy.us Data was collected from December15, 2008 through January 15, The report was completed January 30, 2009.

3 Modified CROP Study for the Saratoga/Encampment Area Background From 2006 to 2007, the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management conducted ten Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol (CROP) evaluations. These evaluations were focused on regions where forest restoration and fuel load reduction efforts were high priorities. The USFS CROP evaluations differed from biomass inventories in that the focus was on proposed biomass to be removed over a five year period within a 100 mile radius from a defined center point. The purpose of these evaluations was to facilitate coordination of biomass removal, to encourage the use of long-term multiagency stewardship contracts, increase the certainty of biomass supply, invite investment back into the area, and enhance public trust and support for biomass removal. Saratoga and Encampment/Riverside are located on the Platte River Valley in Carbon County, Wyoming between the Medicine Bow Mountains and the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. From the time of their establishment, these communities have depended on the land and the natural resources surrounding them with a history of copper mining, lumber milling, cattle and sheep ranching. Saratoga is at 6,785 feet elevation with a population of 1,737. Encampment and Riverside are at an elevation of over 7,100 feet with a population of 447 and 59 respectively. Purpose Both Saratoga and Encampment have sawmills that have been closed for a number of years. During this time there have been a number of groups and companies interested in bringing the timber industry back into the area. In December of 2008, Wyoming State Forestry Division (WSFD) conducted a modified Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol study. Although similar to those conducted by the USFS, the purpose of this project was simply to provide information to potential companies interested in investing in the local timber industry for the Saratoga Encampment area. The center point for the CROP study is midway between Saratoga and Encampment. The study looked at the timber offered for sale within a 100 mile radius of the center point over the last five years (FY 2003 to 2008) and the proposed future sales during the upcoming five years (FY 2009 to 2014). Below is a list of requested information. Requested Information: Sale Name Harvest type: fuel load reduction, timber sale, post and pole, TSI Volume offered for sale Year offered for sale or planned year offered for sale Did it sell (yes or no) Year harvested For projected sales is NEPA complete (yes or no) Volume harvested by species and size class (<5, 5 to 7, >7 ) Unit of measure (mmbf, green or dry tons, ccf) Method used to calculate volume Relevant information on stewardship contracts or agreements for your district Office of State Lands and Investments - 1 -

4 Figure 1. CROP study area for the Saratoga/Encampment Area. Agencies Included in the CROP Study Area: US Forest Service (USFS) Ranger District Medicine Bow NF Douglas RD Laramie, WY Brush Creek/Hayden RD Saratoga, WY Laramie RD Laramie, WY Hahns Peak/Bears Ears RD Steamboat Springs, CO Parks RD Walden, CO Yampa RD Yampa, CO White River NF Blanco RD Meeker, CO Arapaho/Roosevelt NF Sulphur RD Ft. Collins, CO Canyon Lakes RD Granby, CO Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Field Offices Lander FO Casper FO Rock Springs FO Rawlins FO Little Snake FO Kremmling FO Royal Gorge FO White River FO Glenwood Springs FO Lander, WY Casper, WY Rock Springs, WY Rawlins, WY Craig, CO Kremmling, CO Canon City, CO Meeker, CO Glenwood Springs, CO Office of State Lands and Investments - 2 -

5 (WSFD) District 2 District 3 District 4 Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) Steamboat Springs Fort Collins District Granby District Grand Junction Cheyenne, WY Riverton, WY Lyman, WY Steamboat Springs, CO Fort Collins, CO Granby, CO Grand Junction, CO The following agencies reported having no sales or projected sales within the study area from 2003 through USFS White River National Forest - Blanco District, CO WSFD District 3, WY WSFD District 4, WY CSFS Granby District, CO CSFS Grand Junction, CO BLM Little Snake Field Office, CO BLM Royal Gorge Field Office, CO BLM White River Field Office, CO BLM Rock Springs Field Office, WY Data from CSFS Steamboat Springs District and WY BLM Casper Field office is not included in the CROP study data. Volume Offered, Sold, Not Sold and Harvested from 2003 to 2009 It is the current practice to leave small diameter material (5 or less in diameter at breast height) in the forest. Although this material is not harvested, it is included in the harvested or thinned classification. In addition, because of the size of small diameter material, it is only listed in bone dry tons (12% moisture content) and not in total board feet. There were a total of 195 sales offered from FY 2003 to FY Of these sales, 23 were listed as being part of a stewardship agreement lasting from 3 to 10 years; 20 were with the USFS and 3 with the BLM. Table 1. Bone dry tons harvest from USFS land by species and size class and total board feet by size class (2003 to 2008). Species 5" - 7" > 7" Total Douglas-fir Engelmann spruce - 2, ,333.6 Lodgepole pine 3, , ,590.3 Ponderosa pine Subalpine fir Total Tons 3, , ,660.1 Total board feet 1,373, ,966, ,340,450.0 Office of State Lands and Investments - 3 -

6 BDT ( Offered , , , ,692.1 Sold , , Not Sold Harvested or thinned Figure 2. Bone dry tons (12% mc) offered, sold, not sold, and either harvested or thinned by the USFS from 2003 to Table 2. Bone dry tons harvest from WSFD land by species and size class and total board feet by size class (2003 to 2008) Species < 5 5" - 7" > 7" Total Lodgepole pine , ,140.5 Ponderosa pine Subalpine fir Total tons , ,132.4 Total board feet - 264, , , BDT ( Offered Sold Not Sold Harvested or thinned Figure 3. Bone dry tons (12% mc) offered, sold, not sold and either harvested or thinned by the WSFD from 2003 to Office of State Lands and Investments - 4 -

7 Table 3. Bone dry tons harvest from BLM land by species and size class and total board feet by size class (2003 to 2008)*. Species < 5 > 7" Total Lodgepole pine , ,476.4 Total tons - 5,366, ,366,000.0 Total board feet - 5,366, ,366,000.0 *WY BLM Casper Field office is not included in the CROP study data BDT ( Offered Sold Not Sold Harvested Figure 4. Bone dry tons (12% mc) offered, sold, not sold and either harvested or thinned by the BLM from 2003 to (WY BLM Casper Field office is not included in the data.) In FY 2009, Colorado State Forest Service offered three sales totaling bone dry tons (154,600 bf of lodgepole pine 5 or more in diameter and 53,000 bf of ponderosa pine 5 or more in diameter). These sales have not yet sold. Data from CSFS Steamboat Springs District is not included in the CROP study. Projected Volume for 2009 through 2014 Currently, agencies are planning on offering 190 sales between 2009 and (The USFS Medicine Bow Routt National Forest has projected sales only through 2012.) Of these sales, 39 will be part of a stewardship contract lasting anywhere between 3 to 10 years; 32 will be offered by the USFS and 7 will be offered by the BLM. Table 4. Total projected volume from USFS Medicine Bow Routt National Forest from 2009 through 2012*. Ranger District Board Feet (mmbf) (5 or greater in dbh) Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District 24.1 Douglas Ranger District 0.4 Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District 51.4 Laramie Ranger District 52.3 Parks Ranger District 43.5 Yampa Ranger District 64.6 *As of January 2009, the USFS Medicine Bow Routt National Forest has projected sales only through Office of State Lands and Investments - 5 -

8 Table 5. Total projected volume from USFS Arapaho Roosevelt National Forest from 2009 through Ranger District Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (mmbf) (5 or greater in dbh) (< 5 ) Canyon Lakes Ranger District 10, Sulphur Ranger District Table 6. Total projected volume from from 2009 through District Bone Dry Tons (< 5) Board Feet (mmbf) (5 or greater in dbh) District Table 7. Total projected volume from Bureau of Land Management from 2009 through 2014*. Field Office Bone Dry Tons (< 5 ) Board Feet (mmbf) (5 or greater in dbh) Glenwood Springs Field Office 0.9 < 0.1 Kremmling Field Office Lander Field Office Rawlins Field Office *WY BLM Casper Field office is not included in the CROP study data. Several of the BLM field offices reported that much of their sales are either opportunistic or over the counter sales for post and pole size material. Opportunistic sales occur when a private land owner will be removing timber from their property and would like to see the BLM conduct timber management on an adjacent parcel of BLM land. If it is determined to be in the public interest and NEPA is approved, the sale is conducted. Table 8. Total projected volume from Colorado State Forest Service for 2009*. District Bone Dry Tons (< 5 ) Board Feet (mmbf) (5 or greater in dbh) Fort Collins District *CSFS Steamboat Springs District is not included in the CROP study data. There are only three projected sales from the Fort Collins District within the study area, all of which will be offered in Table 9. Projected volume for 2009 by agency and size class. Agency Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" USFS 1, ,687, ,943,000.0 WSFD , ,604,000.0 BLM , ,661,000.0 CSFS , ,700.0 Total 1, ,414, ,315,700.0 Table 10. Projected volume for 2010 by agency and size class. Agency Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" USFS 2, ,617, ,550,000.0 WSFD , ,161,000.0 BLM , ,551,000.0 Total 2, ,791, ,262,000.0 Office of State Lands and Investments - 6 -

9 Table 11. Projected volume for 2011 by agency and size class. Agency Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" USFS 3, ,800, ,400,000.0 WSFD - 6, ,000.0 BLM ,500,000.0 Total 3, ,806, ,821,000.0 Table 12. Projected volume for 2012 by agency and size class. Agency Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" USFS 1, ,080, ,655,000.0 WSFD - 102, ,000.0 BLM ,500,000.0 Total 1, ,182, ,502,000.0 Table 13. Projected volume for 2013 by agency and size class. Agency Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" USFS , ,000.0 WSFD ,000.0 BLM ,500,000.0 Total , ,830,000.0 Table 14. Projected volume for 2014 by agency and size class. Agency Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" USFS 1, , ,500,000.0 WSFD - 120, ,900,000.0 BLM ,500,000.0 Total 1, , ,900,000.0 Table 15. Total projected volume from all agencies by year and size class. Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (mmbf) Year (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" Total , , , , , Total 10, Due to the USFS Medicine Bow Routt National Forest only having projected sale offerings through 2012, there is a drop in projected volume for 2013 and Office of State Lands and Investments - 7 -

10 Projected Volume by Species Table 16. Projected volume of lodgepole pine from all agencies by year and size class. Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (mmbf) Year (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" Total Total Table 17. Projected volume of ponderosa pine from all agencies by year and size class. Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (mbf) Year (< 5") 5" - 7" > 7" Total Total Table 18. Projected volume of subalpine Table 19. Projected volume of Douglas-fir fir from all agencies by year and size class. from all agencies by year and size class. Board Feet (mbf) Board Feet (mbf) Year > 7" Total Year > 7" Total Total Total Table 20. Projected volume of Engelmann Table 21. Projected volume of mixed conifer spruce from all agencies by year and size class. from all agencies by year and size class. Board Feet (mbf) Board Feet (mbf) Year > 7" Total Year 5" - 7" > 7" Total , ,657.0 Total Total , ,704.0 Table 22. Projected volume of biomass (all species) from all agencies by year and size class. Bone Dry Tons Board Feet (mbf) Year (< 5") 5" - 7" Total , , , , , , , Total 10, , ,409.0 Office of State Lands and Investments - 8 -

11 National Environmental Policy Act Federal agencies are required to meet the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. This must be accomplished before a timber management operation can be conducted on USFS or BLM land. Below is a list of future sales grouped according to whether NEPA has been completed. There are 102 future sales projected from 2009 to Seventeen of these sales are on BLM land and 52 sales are on USFS land. Table 23. Total projected volume from 2009 through 2014 by agency and NEPA completion.* Bone Dry Percentage Agency Tons NEPA Complete NEPA Not Complete USFS Arapaho/Roosevelt NF 120, USFS Medicine Bow Routt NF 675, BLM Glenwood Springs FO BLM Kremmling FO 46, BLM Lander FO 1, BLM Rawlins FO Total 843, *As of January 2009, the USFS Medicine Bow Routt National Forest has projected sales only through NEPA Complete NEPA Not Complete BDT ( Figure 5. Projected volume in bone dry tons from all agencies by NEPA completion and year. (As of January 2009, the USFS Medicine Bow Routt National Forest has projected sales only through 2012.) Office of State Lands and Investments - 9 -

12 Equations Used Abbreviations: bf = board feet cf = cubic foot dbh = diameter at breast height mbf = thousand board feet mc = moisture content Depending on the information provided, the following equations were used to determine tons biomass at 12% moisture content. CF to tons: = (cf x lb/cf species factor)/2000 lbs/ton Pound per cubic foot species factors are from excel wood density beta version developed by Oregon State University and the USDA Forest Service (2002). Factors are listed below: Douglas-fir Engelmann spruce Lodgepole pine Ponderosa pine Subalpine fir Mixed stand (average) 33.8 lb/cf 24.8 lb/cf 28.6 lb/cf 28.3 lb/cf 23.1 lb/cf 27.0 lb/cf MBF to tons ={[(mbf x 1000)/5 bf per cf] x lb/cf species factor}/2000 lbs/ton Note: This calculates recovered volume based on timber sale appraisal data. Number of trees to tons cf = [( x dbh squared) x 20ft] x number of trees tons = (cf x lb/cf species factor)/2000 lbs/ton Green tons (50% mc) to dry tons (12% mc) = gr tons x 0.62 Estimated acres of lodgepole pine to tons This calculation assumes the following: thinning occurred in lodgepole pine stands when the trees were 20 to 25 years old with an average dbh of two inches in diameter and a height of eight feet. Pre-thinning density was approximately 2,500 trees per acre. The trees were thinned to allow an 8 foot by 8 foot spacing (681 trees per acre), removing 1,819 trees per acre. These trees were the smaller, less desirable trees, averaging one inch dbh and six feet tall. = {[(Acres x 1,819 trees/acre) x x dbh 2 x 6 ft] x 28.6 lbs/cf}/2000 lbs per ton Estimated acres of ponderosa pine to tons = {[(Acres x 1,197 trees/acre) x x dbh 2 x 5.5 ft] x 28.6 lbs/cf}/2000 lbs per ton Office of State Lands and Investments