January 2006 Logging Update

It now looks like the Sunflower Hill restoration logging will occur this winter but the rest of the Park will be deferred until next year. Concerns about the funding needed to do the cleanup and handwork after the logging are at least partly responsible for the delay. We will update this page as soon as we get firm start times from Tembec. We hope to schedule a field trip into the Sunflower Hill cutting unit with the Tembec logging supervisor Warn Franklin, sometime in the next few weeks. Just before Christmas, Pam Chenery and Kent Goodwin attended a City Forest Management subcommittee meeting to discuss Tembec's plan to log an area on Musser's Plateau. Apparently the numbers of pine beetle are skyrocketing and the company wants to begin salvage logging this summer. The results will be a rather large clearcut area which will have impacts on the visual quality of North Star Mountain from a variety of viewpoints around town. Below is a draft layout of the cutting area and Tembec is currently working on ways to change its shape to reduce the visual impact. A large .pdf image can be downloaded here.

This is the current layout of the cutblock on Musser's Plateau. It is currently being revised to try and reduce the impact on visual quality from various parts of town. The Musser's Plateau trail is crossed by the access road on the left side of the picture but is otherwise not touched by the logging.