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Photo by Ktvin Higlr
Desert oasis endangered; can't compete
Editor's note: The following story was written as an
assignment in a depth reporting class. The author is a
December graduate and former Daily Nebraskan staff
member.
By Joe Hudson
Halsey-Neb. The Sandhills roll drearily, almost hypno
tically, through hundreds of miles of sparsely inhabited
north-central Nebraska range. , '
And just about when the barren brown expanse has
lulled the visiting motorist into believing he is indeed in
the middle of the Great American Desert, thick green
rows of pine and cedar break the treeless monotony.
This man-made 20,000-dcre oasis the Bessey division
of the Nebraska National Forest -4s healthy today, but
many forestry experts are worried about its future. Be-,
cause the forest is man-made, nature cannot be trusted to
perpetuate it, experts say. And unless a half-million
dollars eventually is spent on thinning and pruning the
forest, they say, its long-range future will be in danger.
Some fear that because the forest is hard to justify
economically, money for such a thinning project may be
hard to come by. Officials already have decided not to
replant most of the area devastated by a 1965 fire which
scarred about pne-third of the forest's tirnberland.
Why does the forest described before a 1965 fire as the
largest man-made forest in the world-face long-range
problems? ' '" .. .
District Ranger La Verne Schultz blames Nebraska's
climate and the thickness of the tree stands.
Low rainfall, torrid summer temperatures and drought
dry out the top layer of sand, making natural reproduc
tion almost impossible, Schultz said. "Most of the seeds
germinate and die immediately," he said. ;
Trees stuated -Trees
planted too close together become stunted as
they compete for moisture, space and sunlight. "
"Here we get into an unknown area, said Schultz,
a five-year Nebraska forest veteran. The weaker tress
start dying out and become very susceptible to insect
attack. An epidemic could Jake f5e-we don't know.
But we do know that, the stands being as thick as they
are, the susceptibility would be greater (than normal) for
any disease you might have in there." "
The stands' density also poses a fire threat. ;k
"With the vigor going out of the trees and ths dense
stands," one official said, 'once a fire got into the crowns,
it could run from one side cf the forest to the other
before you could say scat." Shifting winds and kindling
fry conditions helped turn a Lhtrirj bolt o May 1965
fcta a ranger's nightmare.
Schultz is putting the finishing touches on a proposal '
calling for thinning of about 7,700 acres. However, hopes
for such a plan gaining approval are not the h;:-hisL The
Nebraska forest must compete with ether forests fcr tim
fc management funds, and Nctrr.'ia's product doesn't
stack up to wood grown in other areas.
"You cannot in any way justify econorrJca-y ro?ng
fes in Nebraska Sandhills for timber," said Ji-cs Lees,
range and wildlife officer at the forest's Chadron head
quarters. Scrawny Sandhill wood
In other areas, national forests provide one-third of the
nation's timber products, but the knotty, scrawny
Sandhill wood is not worth marketing. "The returns are
zero," Lees said.
"However," he added, "we recognize those trees are
valuable for aesthetics, wildlife habitat, scenery -and just
because the forest is unique."
"We recognize those values for timber in Nebraska,"
Lees said. But, he said, those values may not be seen in
Washington.
"Congress has been looking at output," said John
Combes, timber management group leader at the UJS.
Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region office in Den
ver. . x , . i 7 :" ;' '
Nebraska forests must compete with Rocky Mountain
Region forests in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and
Kansas for about $2 million in timber management funds
each year, Combes said.
Of that, he said, the three Nebraska forests divide a
"very insignificant" $6000. ; :
, Management not emphasized
"So far, that money for forest management is mainly
..... directed to areas with an existing (timber) industry,"
" ' Combes said. "In Nebraska, since no industry directly .
depends , on forestry, timbet management hasn't been
emphasized." . . , -
Most of the money the forest takes in -$57 000 out of
. $63,000 annually comes from ranchers who graze cattle
- on forest land. .Two-thirds of the forest's 90,000 acres
are covered with grass, not trees.
Under the forest service's doctrine stressing maximum
benefits for the largest possible number of people, it was
decided not to replant most of the 10000 acres destroyed
or scarred by the '65 fire, according to forest supervisor
Larry Sutton. :
Weighing the $200-per-acre planting costs against limit-.,
ed benefits, it was decided not to block-plant the charred
area, Sutton said. About 3,000 acres were replanted.
- Like replanting, thinning would have to compete with
other projects on local or regional levels.;
. "We have a lot of latitude to make the decision V
whether to thin," Lees said. "If we thought (thinning) was
' . most important, we'd probably end up having to quit
managing wildlife, for example."
Hopes for funds -However,
hopes for getting thinning funds should rise
as provisions of 1975's federal Resource Flanning Act are
. put into gear, said Combes of the Denver office. . .
Under the act, Combes said, forest supervisors are in
" stnted to kok to the year 2015 in determining forest '
: needs, starting in 1978. - .' . ...
llopsfully, the Resource Flanning Act will he'p. I
think the practice cf rzzr,' forests for production only
is goir.3 to chzr.s. There should be some management for '
. ether uses. ' .
Less mentioned the possibility of earmarked funds
from Congress if, over the years, thinning money did not,
come through the regular budgetary process.
Of Nebraska's congressional delegation, only Rep.
Charles Thone said he would support a move by Congress
to get thinning money if it were proven vital to the for
est's survival and if the regular process failed to generate
the funds.
State Forester Mitchell D. Ferrill suggested other alternatives-state
or private funding.
"If a Nebraska citizen feels there is a need to continue
the Halsey forest," Ferrill said, 'lie's going to have to ask
himself the question: "Should I as a Nebraska citizen
assume Lability for this, or . should the federal government
playarole?'"
Ferrill said Nebraskans should "get to your congress
man or go through the state Unicameral."
The unique forest -and the thickness of its stands of
Coots Dul n- .4 A i-1 n I . J t.
Lrfi&iu ixou w;udi oiiu , rtuauiau, runuerusa ana jacx
pine-date to its planting starting in 1902, when the for
est was the bold experiment of Charles E. Bessey, Univer
sity of Nebraska botanist.
Determined to prove trees could survive the Sandhills'
hot, dry summers and blizzardy winters, Bessey found
through experimentation that seeds would not grow, but
that one- and two-year-old seedlings could prosper.
President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 set aside a
wedge of land for the forest bounded by the Middle Loup
and Dismal rivers, much to the dismay of area ranchers
who hated to see good rangeland wasted on what they
considered a foolhardy project.
Bessey had proved his point-that trees could prosper
in .Nebraska.4 Nebraskans followed his lead by planting
sheltcrbelts to protect their land, crops and livestock
from high winds and frigid temperatures.
No longer jn the experimental stage, the forest Vuture
now is pondered by officials. Left untended, there's not
much question the forest eventually would disappear into
rangeland, Lees said. . .
Schultz said the forest should last as long as the cedars
normally live -about 250 more years
Urgent ceed
But Ferrill said the need for thinning is much more
urgent than that Because the trees are in the Sandhills,
he said, they probably will not come close to reaching
their maximum age. According to Ferrill, the forest could
reach danger stages in the next 50 to 1 00 years.
Officials and politicians were unanimous on one
point-the need for Nebraskans to make known their
feeling: about the forest.
Schultz said Nebraskans Tiave a lot of pride in this
forest. They take interest in it In the mountains, you take
trees for granted. Not here.
There are a lot of oeonte fmm armm v v
put a lot of work into this forest. The pride is there."
Ee, mav b b"t without funds for thin
ning, officials can't guarantee the forest wO, in some
future i generation, be anything more than a mirzse in the
Great American Desert.