Concerns surround Katkee Fuels assessment

Deep concerns surround the Katkee Fuels Environmental Assessment. The current proposal by the Bonners Ferry Ranger District, backed by the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative, omits vital information: logging diminishes carbon reserves, CO2 sequestration, and O2 production crucial both locally and globally.

Road construction impacts grizzly bear habitat, and logging results in a long-term loss of fisher habitat. Watersheds and cutthroat trout will suffer from increased runoff during rain-on-snow events and from sedimentation. For instance, the approximately 2000-acre John Crown Creek watershed faces significant degradation, with 53% undergoing regeneration clearcutting and an additional 22% affected by intermediate cuts.

The visual impact to the Clifty-Katka roadless area would extend 0.8 miles upslope. The absence of information on the roadless area and roadless expanse in the Scoping Notice conceals visual and wildlife impacts. Burying the Black Mountain powerline eliminates the need for a logging buffer, ensuring long-term fire resistance. Logging around the corridor poses additional threats to wildlife and scenery.

This shotgun approach to unit placement is careless; instead, emphasize model-derived, science-based unit placement to minimize habitat disruption, fire spread, and avoid mature and old-growth forests. Rewilding the rest is crucial. Redirecting allocated funds to developing defensible space and home hardening would best serve the area's interests.

PAUL SIERACKI

Priest River