Stimson/ Colville NF Proposed Land Swap

[Buckhunter24]

The Colville has successfully collaborated on a lot of stewardship projects in the last decade and built a lot of trust that good forestry is taking place. Would I like to see it at a faster pace and larger treatment level? Yes. But good projects are taking place in the Colville NF.

[hunter399]

The Colville has successfully collaborated on a lot of stewardship projects in the last decade and built a lot of trust that good forestry is taking place. Would I like to see it at a faster pace and larger treatment level? Yes. But good projects are taking place in the Colville NF.

Totally agree
There has been Alot more harvests going on in the colville national forest through steward ship harvest sales.
Most of those logs have went to a few mills in the area.
And has kept wood product manufacturer strong in our area.

[KFhunter]

The Colville has successfully collaborated on a lot of stewardship projects in the last decade and built a lot of trust that good forestry is taking place. Would I like to see it at a faster pace and larger treatment level? Yes. But good projects are taking place in the Colville NF.

Vaagans had a pretty good partnershio going , is that dissolved?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[hunter399]

The Colville has successfully collaborated on a lot of stewardship projects in the last decade and built a lot of trust that good forestry is taking place. Would I like to see it at a faster pace and larger treatment level? Yes. But good projects are taking place in the Colville NF.

Vaagans had a pretty good partnershio going , is that dissolved?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Yes they was awarded the stewardship contracts.
I don't have a clue now ,I'm not in the circle of trust anymore.

[Buckhunter24]

I've got no real insight. My understanding from what I've read on the usfs site is every project is open for any bidder to bid on, and each project area is a separate bid.

[hunter399]

I've got no real insight. My understanding from what I've read on the usfs site is every project is open for any bidder to bid on, and each project area is a separate bid.

I guess the contracts I'm talking about was a few years ago.
All contracts are like that . Anybody can bid ECT,ECT.
But vaagans can take a pretty small log.
It kinda depends on the stand of timber.
Who can make the most of what's there.
Does that make sense at all ?

[Buckhunter24]

 

[hunter399]

No mill wants to run small block.
Except vaagans they love it I guess.
Make a 2x4 out of nothing I guess.
 

We used to make fun of the brothers said.
Them vaagan brothers must be named bow and wayn.
Cause of the way the straping would hit you in the face.
When you break the straps on there lumber.
With that said ,I don't think it was ever that bad,but it was always funny.

[Alan K]

The stewardship sales are a workaround so that dollars stay on the forest. That's the good part of them. Its ridiculous that our government can't figure out a way to just handle the accounting internally and allow dollars from regular timber sales to go back into the lands they were generated on...

The bad part, is they make very little money, and the selection process of who gets the job is done behind closed doors and doesn't necessarily go to the bidder that returns the highest value.  In many cases it does not. Room for some good old boys club corruption there?  Stewardship contracts are faaaar from efficient. They rope in a lot of odd ball projects that a logger or lumber mill rarely deals with. For example pre-commercial thinning. Is it good they get some thinning done? Of course! But when the bidder puts $300/acre on that project because of the headache and subcontracting etc. outside of their regular business, when the USFS could have contracted the same work directly for $200/acre it doesn't make much sense...

Traditional, COMPETITIVE timber sales, with the USFS handling the special projects themselves would be better for everyone involved AND stretch the same dollars farther!

[hunter399]

The stewardship sales are a workaround so that dollars stay on the forest. That's the good part of them. Its ridiculous that our government can't figure out a way to just handle the accounting internally and allow dollars from regular timber sales to go back into the lands they were generated on...

The bad part, is they make very little money, and the selection process of who gets the job is done behind closed doors and doesn't necessarily go to the bidder that returns the highest value.  In many cases it does not. Room for some good old boys club corruption there?  Stewardship contracts are faaaar from efficient. They rope in a lot of odd ball projects that a logger or lumber mill rarely deals with. For example pre-commercial thinning. Is it good they get some thinning done? Of course! But when the bidder puts $300/acre on that project because of the headache and subcontracting etc. outside of their regular business, when the USFS could have contracted the same work directly for $200/acre it doesn't make much sense...

Traditional, COMPETITIVE timber sales, with the USFS handling the special projects themselves would be better for everyone involved AND stretch the same dollars farther!

I don't mind the mill hiring tree thinners,it's better than the forest service hiring migrants to due the work.
Does giveing local workers 300 AC make sense.
Sure it's better to do the work for cheap.But it's even better to pay more and keep that money in our community.

[hunter399]

Alan K
I do agree there is some good ol boy clubs.
Seen it myself ,you can put a certain name on a contract as a Forman,or project leader. And I bet money in some cases those contracts will go to those people.
But at the end of the day you got to ask yourself. WHY
More than likely someone noticed there work ethics or there ability to finish contracts start to finish.

[cougforester]

This is back.

Appears comment period is opening up soon.

Edit: Guess my link won't post. Whoops.

It appears comments will be open for October.

[Boss .300 winmag]

This is back.

Appears comment period is opening up soon.

https://www.industryintel.com/i2report/index.cfm?event=view.news&uR=3645246&rname=Industry%20Intelligence%20Forestry%2FTimberland%20Market%20Report&cm1=393593&id=-2,237036,156491103288

Can’t open article, it’s reached its free limits.🤣

[highcountry_hunter]

As a logger and sportsmen I have a different opinion than the previous comments

Pro’s-
-Sportsmen and recreationalists receive double the amount of public land
-The public land received has been properly managed by a reputable timber company
-Since the land received has been managed for timber it will be much better hunting than USFS managed land. If you’ve never been on USFS land in NE Washington, think dog hair thick lodgepole pine
-The 30k acres of USFS land that Stimson will receive will be properly managed in the immediate future which is desperately needed due to decades of neglect from the USFS caused by caving to pressure from out of state, extreme environmental groups who still try to stop logging on federal lands, even after witnessing the devastating effects of wildfire on unmanaged lands.

Cons(?)
-Wilderness lite; limited access to public lands IE no road access. To that I say, there are enough public lands in Washington that have road systems running through them. If you want to go into a roadless area you have 2 options. 1 buy a good pair of boots and get into shape. 2 buy a horse.

Just my 2¢