Snow aids Tahoe logging project

The U.S. Forest Service said using heavy equipment that can traverse the snow and ice to remove trees will leave less of an imprint on the environment.

"People think you're just cutting trees and they don't like the fact you're cutting trees," said Angela Parker, a forester with the Forest Service.

"A lot of people think logging is just for logging's sake. When you've fought a wildfire and see what can happen, you really know how important it is to thin out the trees," she said.

The Pioneer Hazard Reduction Project targets 2,000 acres of forest southwest of South Lake Tahoe. It is part of a larger effort to reduce fire danger in the Tahoe Basin.

Conventional logging practices can scar the land and cause erosion that contributes to the decline of Lake Tahoe's famed clarity. That's why recent logging projects around the lake have been conducted by helicopter, or in this case, with the help of snow.

Juan Palma, chief of the Forest Service's Tahoe unit, said logging when the ground is frozen and snow covered helps minimize damage.

"Next spring when you come back, you won't even see there were any machines there," he said. "That's why we do it over the snow."

Environmental groups that once opposed the Pioneer Hazard Project withdrew their objections after the Forest Service agreed to reduce the size of the project and conduct logging over the snow.

"The soil disturbance that occurs in logging operations is extremely damaging to the lake," said Rochelle Nason, executive director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

"Over-snow logging avoids impacts to the lake by avoiding impacts to the soil. The over-snow was important to us."

Logging didn't start in earnest until late January, when heavy snows finally hit the Sierra. And with spring on the way and temperatures warming, it won't be long before operations cease until next winter.

"Our logging window is narrowing as we speak," Parker said.

The project will create a buffer between untreated timber and residential areas. The goal is to make thinned areas less prone to flames that skip and spread from treetop to treetop.

"It's going to happen sooner or later," Palma said of wildfire. "It's the course of nature."

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