Timber Industry

We look at the Bull Springs Timber Sale in the Black Hills National Forest.

A Black Hills couple are the American Tree Farm System’s National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. Bob Burns and Mary LaHood of Piedmont own and manage 320 acres of forestland.

Forester Dave Mertz says the Black Hills National Forest simply cannot sustain current logging levels. We talk with Mertz about the detailed science of the General Technical Report along with what Mertz says the forest is already revealing about over-harvesting.

Ben Wudtke with the Black Hills Forest Resource Association discusses the Data Quality Act challenge and detailed examples of challenges to the General Technical Report published by the US Forest Service.

Seth Tupper joins us for a conversation about the Data Quality Act and administrative action from the Black Hills forest products industry seeking corrections to a scientific report that recommends significantly reducing the timber harvest.

The Black Hills Forest Resource Association says it’s filing a challenge through the federal government’s Data Quality Act. The association calls the move “an administrative action” that “doesn’t immediately involve the courts.”