MPBRP—that's the sound I made last night after eating salads made with bacon, sausage, and salami.
MPBRP is also the Mountain Pine Beetle Response Project the Forest Service is proposing to take care of those pesky pine beetles in the Black Hills. An announcement in the August 8 Federal Register lays out the following plan:
The proposed action would treat newly detected infestations that may occur on about 325,000 acres of NFS lands to reduce and slow the spread of MPB. Specifically, newly infested trees would be removed, or made unsuitable for occupancy by beetles, before beetles can mature and further disperse to other trees. Some surrounding mature trees at risk of infestation may also be removed. A variety of treatment options would be available for use depending on conditions encountered on infested sites. Actual treatments used at any specific location would be determined at the time of implementation. Treatment options would include commercial tree removal using ground-based or cable logging equipment, or helicopter; non-commercial methods such as chipping trees or cutting them into short sections; and spraying small areas of trees to prevent infestation. Some temporary road construction is proposed, although generally road access would use existing road templates where available. Roads would be closed after use [Dennis Jaeger, Deputy Forest Supervisor, Black Hills National Forest, Federal Register Doc. 2011-20036, filed 2011.08.05 08:45].
Unlike Congresswoman Noem, the MPBRP is totally open to public comment for the next month. Those of you who got crowded off the agenda by Rep. Noem's campaign donors at her July dog-and-pony show in Hill City will get a chance to speak your mind at three public meetings later this month:
Three public meetings are planned at this stage of project analysis. Those will be held August 23, 2011, in Sundance, Wyoming, at the Crook County Courthouse; August 25 in Hill City, South Dakota, at the high school; and August 30 in Spearfish, SD, at the Holiday Inn. All meetings will begin at 6 p.m. Mountain Time (MT), and end at 8 p.m. M.T. In addition, three public meetings will be held during the comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement [FR Doc. 2011-20036].
Right now the Forest Service is seeking comments on the scope of the analysis. Among other things, the feds are open to suggestions for alternative pine beetle response plans. (Perhaps Rick Perry's followers will suggest prayer as The Response to insects, too.) The Forest Service plans to issue a draft environmental impact statement in February 2012, take more public comment, then issue the final EIS in August 2012. Then they'd take action... assuming the pine beetles haven't eaten all the trees by then. MPBRP! go the beetles.
Want to send your comments? Send written comments to Craig Bobzien, Forest Supervisor, Black Hills National Forest, 1019 N. 5th Street, Custer, SD 57730. Comments may also be sent via e-mail to comments-rocky-mountain-black-hills@fs.fed.us, with "MPB Response Project'' in the subject line. (Worth noting: the Forest Service will accept and consider anonymous comments.)
The Forest Service has failed. The Black Hills National Forest should be dissolved and put into the forestry division of a BIA trust as should the three sectors of the so-called 'Custer' National Forest.
GFP is a political organization and should no longer have jurisdiction over wildlife in the former Paha Sapa.