Forest service timber sale halted - KOTA Territory News

Forest service timber sale halted

The effort to thin heavily forested areas and avert the fire danger in the Black Hills takes a hit.
 
According to the Call of the Wild Forest Report, the head of Neiman enterprises, the largest Black Hills forest products company, says the company will not be able to purchase all the pine offered for sale by the forest service.

The federal agency planned to sell 50-million board feet of ponderosa pine, half of what the agency puts up for sale annually, in an effort to thin overgrown forests and deplete wildfire danger.

But the low value of the pine and the high cost of transportation have halted the deal, according to the report. Alternative markets are being researched.
 
Of the four million dead and dying trees in the black hills, the timber industry can only handle 9%.