Black Hill Forest Logging Levels to be Reduced

In an interview held on Friday (11-5-21) with South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s daily public-affairs show, In the Moment, hosted by Lori Walsh, the leaders of the Black Hills National Forest announced that after several years of debate about sustainability in the forest, they plan to reduce logging levels.

According to Forest Supervisor Jeff Tomac, the Forest Service uses a unit called “CCF,” which is equivalent to 100 cubic feet, to measure timber. For the past 11 years, loggers have taken an average of 191,000 CCF out of the Black Hills National Forest each year. But Tomac said the Forest Service will reduce that number to about 124,000 CCF this year, and then maybe to an average of 90,000 or 100,000 CCF in subsequent years. That’s the proposal for now, anyway.

“I wouldn’t say it’s set in stone,” Tomac said. “What we have talked about with industry and others is that those are the preliminary numbers that we’re coming up with for the next three years.”

As the Forest Service adjusts logging levels for the next few years, it’s also trying to write a new master plan for the forest. Loggers and sawmill operators say that’s too drastic. One sawmill already closed earlier this year in Hill City. Industry officials say logging reductions could cause more mill closures.

“I haven’t talked to anybody that disagrees with the fact that we need industry as a partner on the Black Hills National Forest for current and future management,” Tomac said.