Forest budget less than hoped for

By Bill Harlan, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, February 27, 2003

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CUSTER — The long-awaited federal budget for fiscal year 2003 will force the U.S. Forest Service to delay some management projects in the Black Hills, an agency spokesman said Wednesday.

The delays could affect timber thinning, weed control, erosion control, construction and maintenance of roads and trails and other projects. "It's going to hurt," Dave Thom, a natural- resources staff officer at Black Hills National Forest headquarters in Custer, said.

But Thom added that delayed forest projects should be viewed in context. "Our budget was passed at a time when our national priority is homeland security," he said.

He also emphasized that predictions about which projects would be delayed were based on "preliminary" numbers. Federal foresters here won't get the budget until late next month, he said.

Thom expects the budget for the Black Hills National Forest would be about $21 million, or about the same as last year, and some programs will continue as planned.

The Black Hills, for example, will get about $4 million for "fire preparedness" — or about the same as last year.

The Forest Service also expects to get enough "hazardous fuels" money to thin about 8,600 acres of timber that the agency says is at risk of catastrophic fire. Again, that's about the same as last year.

Thom also said the delays should not affect the huge Prairie Project (named for a creek) to thin dense timber in populated but mountainous areas west of Rapid City.

Some projects, however, will be delayed — mainly because of a deep cut in a request for money to rehabilitate fire areas.

Last fall, Black Hills National Forest Supervisor John Twiss said he would ask for an additional $7 million for those projects, including $1.6 million to restore the Battle Creek Fire area south of Rockerville and $4.1 million for the ongoing rehabilitation of the Jasper Fire area west of Custer.

Twiss eventually trimmed that request to $5 million, Thom said, but the new budget will provide just $800,000.

National budget pressures are only just part of the reason the request was cut so severely, Thom said. In fact, Twiss warned last fall that rehabilitation projects here would have to compete with similar projects elsewhere in the agency's Rocky Mountain Region. The huge Hayman Fire area in Colorado, for example, will be a rehabilitation showcase for the Forest Service.

The Forest Service also adopted a new policy on rehabilitation money, Thom said. Now, national forests must find money to pay for many of those projects from existing budgets. Foresters in the Black Hills, for example, switch funds from low-priority projects such as trail building to higher priorities such as fire restoration.

The highest priorities, Thom said, would be public health, safety and protection of watersheds.

The Forest Service also will honor contracts signed last year.

High-priority projects in the Black Hills that likely will be funded include:

-- Watershed rehabilitation in the Jasper, Elk Mountain and Rogers Shack fire areas in the southern Black Hills.

-- Weed control in the Jasper, Elk Mountain and Battle Creek fire areas.

-- Aspen restoration and other tree planting in the Jasper area.

Rehabilitation of the Grizzly Gulch Fire area near Lead/ Deadwood is a special case. Late-summer floods and mudslides in Deadwood sped up funding for post-fire recovery.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com