Forest thinning proposal stirs controversy at Big Bear Lake

10 June 2022

Published by: https://wstpost.com

USA – For decades, thousands of acres of undeveloped public forest on the north side of Big Bear Lake have been considered the cherished “wild side” of the mountain resort, just a two-hour drive from Los Angeles.

But the worsening drought, the US Forest Service warns, has turned the rural landscape into a powder keg that poses a direct threat to a community in the San Bernardino Mountains that is home to 5,500 year-round residents but between July 4 and swells to over 100,000 on Labor Day.

To reduce the risk of fire, the agency is now seeking approval for one of the largest forest thinning operations ever undertaken in Southern California – removing tens of thousands of Jeffrey pine, silver fir, juniper and oak trees from 13,000 hectares deemed fit overgrown, unhealthy and prone to drought and disease.

The proposed North Big Bear Landscape Restoration Project also envisages building 47 miles of new e-bike trails in the area, a tactic aimed at attracting enough outdoor-savvy city dwellers to ease congestion on the south side of the lake , where tourism is both the lifeblood and bane of the community.
Every year, around 6 million visitors keep the wheels of trade turning behind the rustic facades of ski shops, souvenir shops, restaurants and holiday accommodation. They also bring urban-style congestion, environmental degradation, and illegal campfires in the surrounding San Bernardino National Forest.

But the proposal has left the community divided as conservationists, local businesses and private owners squabble over the project’s potential economic and environmental impact.

“These are big sensitive issues and this plan is an attempt to strike a balance between conflicting interests,” said Big Bear Lake City Councilman Randall Putz.

“No matter what you do in a situation like this, some people aren’t going to like it,” said Putz, who runs a local business specializing in wild bird supplies with his wife Beth Wheat.

The controversy underscores the difficulties facing drought-stricken mountain communities across California and throughout the West who are trading on their alpine image and struggling to prepare for the worst.

California’s 2020 and 2021 fire seasons burned the highest and second-highest number of acres in state history, respectively, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.

“Protecting the community from wildfires is a top priority,” the Forest Service says in promotional material for the project, which, if approved, could begin in the fall.

“Forest health projects are being implemented to remove dead trees and reduce stand densities, which will result in a more natural pattern of fires with low intensity and return intervals,” it said. “Additionally, these projects will focus on restoring forest ecosystems to a healthier state.”

But local activists and environmental groups say the problem is in the details.

Allowing logging and e-bike access, they say, would ruin what makes Big Bear Valley so special — the largely intact national forest on the north side of the lake.

The landscape is home to a remarkably diverse range of biodiversity, including flying squirrels, mountain lions, wood rats, acorn woodpeckers, skinks and such seldom-seen creatures as spotted owls and a snake called the rubber boa – both shy and nocturnal animals that prefer wooded areas.

“Create a healthier forest by chopping down almost all of its trees? — that doesn’t make sense,” said Sandy Steers, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Ed Wallace, a naturalist and conservation officer for the local Sierra Club group, called the planned construction of a new trail system in the area “really bad news.”

“There are already many well-developed roads in the forest on which e-bikers can ride to their heart’s content,” he says. “All this plan will do is trigger massive construction that will disrupt wildlife habitat for years to come.”

Then there’s Chad Hanson, a forest ecologist with the nonprofit John Muir Project and resident of Big Bear Valley, who is urging the forest service to shift its wildfire strategy to one that “starts from the home out.” This means, among other things, using fireproof roofing materials and ventilation grilles in homes and trimming vegetation within 100 feet of homes.

Hanson picked up a handful of dry pine needles and twigs. “That’s what drives wildfires,” he said. “Not that,” he added, nodding toward a 200-year-old Jeffrey pine.

The agency plans to use a combination of manual labour, bulldozers, chewing machines and, if the weather, terrain and location of personal property are right, mandatory cremation.

Of particular concern are areas with hundreds of mature trees per acre and an undergrowth of young conifers, sagebrush and manzanita. For comparison, the agency says a healthy, safe forest near roads and homes would have 17 such trees per acre.

In the event of a fire, it is said, the undergrowth would create what is known as a “fuel ladder” that would eject flames into the canopy, starting a massive blaze that could roar into the community and trap tens of thousands of people trying to escape in vehicles and on foot.

Some residents are concerned about the federal government’s ability to protect the community, which sits in a long valley 6,800 feet above sea level in the San Bernardino Mountains. That suspicion was underscored in March 2004 when a mandatory fire south of Big Bear Lake spiraled out of control and resulted in the evacuation of two ski resorts.

In this case, firefighters originally hoped to help wildlife by creating open areas in dense manzanita stands. The controlled burn should also give firefighters better access to wildfires in the coming fire season, authorities said.

The Forest Service’s proposal comes amid a year-long push by citizens and business leaders to transform Big Bear from primarily a lower-cost weekend resort into a place where upper-middle-class families and professionals could spend a week or more.

On the north side of the lake, e-bike rentals are already waiting to hit the north side of the lake after the forest clearing dust settles and the new trails are installed.

The clearing plan provides for half a dozen parking spots along the north shore of the lake for hikers, mountain bikers and e-bikers wishing to explore the treated landscape.

“This plan could make Big Bear Valley an e-bike destination that could rival—and even surpass—those in Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada,” said Dallas Goldsmith, a lifelong resident of Big Bear Lake and owner of an e-bike. bike rental.

Goldsmith participates in a local Adopt-a-Trail program, contributing $3,000 annually to maintain and improve a 1-mile (1.6 km) trail in the public forest on the north side of the lake.

“Is there an e-bike route around the valley?” is the big question from the first customers in his Goldschmiede sports shop.

“Unfortunately, the answer to that question is ‘not yet,’” said Goldsmith, 47. “I look forward to the time when I can guide clients to hiking trails along the north side of the lake, away from the crowds and surrounded by nature, including our famous bald eagles.”

He was referring to the only nesting bald eagle family in Big Bear Valley: Jackie and Shadow and their offspring Spirit.

What makes these bald eagles so special? A solar-powered camera and sound system have tracked their daily activities from a nest in a pine tree overlooking the north coast village of Fawnskin, giving them the charisma politicians dream of.

On Memorial Day, for the first time, Big Bear Lake replaced its annual fireworks display with a quiet “drone show” so as not to disturb Spirit’s nap.

The next morning, 3-month-old Spirit flew out of the nest for the first time, a move that enthusiastic fans say could have brought the species one step closer to potential repopulation of Big Bear Valley.

Critics of the project claim that it cannot be implemented without serious impacts on these birds of prey. One of the reasons for this is that a new path has to be built that runs directly through their nesting area.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-06-09/forest-thinning-proposal-fuels-controversy-at-big-bear-lake Forest thinning proposal stirs controversy at Big Bear Lake