Forestry on the Yakama Reservation

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Forestry on the Yakama Reservation

• The Balancing of Natural Resources Management

By Philip Rigdon
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An Overview of the Yakama Forest Resource
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Washington State
Established by the Treaty of June 9th, 1855.
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Topography of Yakama Reservation
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Agriculture
Range
Forest
Forest and Woodland 647,172 acres 47
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Vegetation Cover Types
4 Timber Types 95 Acres
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Ponderosa Pine Savannah
Oak-Pine Woodlands
Mixed Conifer
True Fir - Hemlock
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Balancing Resource Values

• income
• employment
• cultural resource protection
• traditional hunting food gathering
• wildlife
• aesthetics
• riparian / meadow protection
• recreation

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This plan remains active due to forest health
priorities and final approval for the 2005- 2014
Forest Management Plan.
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Forest Management Plan

• Passed by the tribal and general council
• Framework for BIA and Tribal DNR forest
  management
• Eleven landuse management areas
• Each landuse management area has goals and
  objectives

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Yakama Forest Management

• Within the forest management plan timber sales
  are scheduled
• Each timber sale goes through the
  interdisciplinary team process
• Due to BIA funding, forestry activities adhere to
  and comply with federal laws (ESA NEPA)

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THE PRESALE PROCESS

• PROJECT EAs FOLLOW
• Tribal Laws
• Federal Laws Statutes
• Forest Mgmt. Plan (FMP)
• Forest-Wide EA
• Tribal Council Objectives
• IDT Recommendations
• PROJECT APPROVAL
• Tribal Council Resolution
• Superintendent FONSI

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THE ORGANIZATION YAKAMA NATION / YAKAMA AGENCY
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Yakama Forest Management

• 143 million board feet annual allowable harvest
• Money derived from stumpage is distributed to the
  Yakama Nation, 45 tribal government, 45 per
  capita payments to enrolled member, and 10
  perpetual fund

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Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

• 9,000 Enrolled Members
• Provides a majority of income and employment to
  the Yakama nation and people
• Unemployment has decreased in last 10 years due
  to economic development but still much higher
  than national average

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Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

• Historically, Salmon Fishing on Columbia River
• Forest resources the economic backbone of the
  nation
• 1994 Yakama Forest Products
• 1997 Hew saw - mill went into operation
• Increased employment opportunities with over 100
  new jobs
• First time the Yakama Nation processed own logs

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The Forest Health Problem

• large insect and disease complex
• fifteen year western spruce budworm outbreak
• 150,000 acres annual defoliation
• bark beetle population buildups
• an estimated billion board feet of mortality
• two tribal declarations of emergency, 1997, 2000
• increasing risk of catastrophic fire

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How We Got Here

• fire exclusion
• selective harvesting
• low levels of harvest

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Results of Fire Exclusion

• conversion from low intensity to high intensity
  fire
• species conversion from pine to fir
• initiation of second growth dominated forest
• increasing volumes per acre
• increasing levels of insects and disease
• increasing spotted owl habitat
• increasing susceptibility to large mortality
  events

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Standing Volumes on the Yakama in Billions of
Board Feet
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Addressing forest health on the Yakama

• Balancing
• Forest restoration
• Long-term forest health
• Sustainable Forestry

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Forest Health

• Ability of a forest ecosystem to
• remain productive and
• withstand disturbance over time

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Addressing forest health on the Yakama

• Developed silvicultural guidelines to control
  spruce budworm
• Increased level of harvesting above 200 mmbf
• Prioritized harvest in damaged areas, gray
  before green
• Accelerated the pre-sale process
• Gained relief on some harvest restrictions
  concerning the northern spotted owl
• Sprayed bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (Btk) on
  thousand of acres in 1990,1999 and 2000

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Before Silvicultural Treatment
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After Treatment
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Before Silvicultural Treatment
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After Treatment
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THE END