“The forest calls the rain, here it comes again putting out the flames, soothing all this burning” – S. Porter
Many people in the Ozarks were deeply disappointed. Ignoring the climate emergency and hundreds of public comments, USFS wants to restore hot arid bare glades on 3,600 acres of Butler Hollow, build miles of logging roads to sell timber, and use prescribed fires for decades at a high frequency to avoid herbicides. This is Phase I of the original 2015 plan to restore 18,000 acres to what old books describe as pre-European conditions. With bulldozers tearing the forest, the Hollow will never be the same again. So much for restoration! Flames and smoke will go wherever the wind blows.
Why would the Ava Missouri Forest Service ignore failed attempts to restore glades on 350 acres of Chute Ridge, and the resulting wildfire destroying private land?
The climate disruption, a clear and present emergency, and severe flash floods downstream on Butler Creek can’t be ignored. There are simple ways to avoid destruction and preserve the Hollow:
- Postpone the decision until 2020
Ranger Bill Nightingale, the Forest Supervisor for the Mark Twain National Forest with more than 20 years of experience with USFS, can choose to wait for the results from a giant experiment underway at the Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis. The 2,000-acre outdoor laboratory for ecosystem studies is looking for new ways to restore degraded glade habitats, based on experimental science.
Here are some of the avoidable unnecessary and predictable threats:
- Residents of the Hollow threatened with wildfires and long-term wood smoke lethal health hazards.
- Lost tourist revenues from visitors to Roaring River and the Hollow.
- Severe floods along Butler Creek threatening the Railway Winery, Beaver, Holiday Island and Eureka Springs.
- Table Rock Lake, a vital resource for Arkansas and Missouri managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, would be contaminated by Butler Creek flash floods.
Nightingale will review opposing comments on the Draft Decision, sent to his attention by July 8, 2016. This is the last opportunity to raise your voice and protect your family.
- New Forest ethics to preserve the Hollow
Forest ethics have evolved from using forests as free resources to preserving them as ecological treasures. In 1905, with abundant forests, Chief Gifford Pinchot said forests should be used for “the greatest good for the greatest number of people, for the longest time.” Conservation thinking was: use natural areas anyway you want to, as long as you leave some for future generations. Preservation ethic is “forests have spiritual value and should be preserved, as is, rather than have resources extracted from them.”
Today, forests are our best hope for survival. We need to preserve forests with great care and respect, secure them from vandals, arsonists, and illegal loggers. Neighborhood forest watch teams are part of the solution. Additional rangers may be needed to provide survival skill training, ecology awareness, and other services to reconnect with the forest.
The Mark Twain is an ecological treasure capturing and storing 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, releasing fresh oxygen, collecting, filtering and storing rainwater, providing shade and habitat for wildlife, and protecting people from severe floods and storms.
Carbon fees should be paid by polluters to forest owners based on the size and conditions of the forests. With these long-term revenues, USFS would have sufficient resources to fight West Coast wildfires.
- Virtual Glades
One of the more amusing facts about glades is their hidden location within the forest with no walking trails. If the glades are restored with no eyes to see them are the glades real? Like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, whose location is unknown, there are many mythical and mysterious treasures. The Hollow glades could be fictional. Local artists can create beautiful imaginary pictures, write songs, and tell stories of the virtual glades.
Praying for wisdom and survival.