Butler Hollow debate continues, concerns raised at open house
Representatives from the Forest Service were on site last night to answer questions about the concerns regarding the Butler Hollow Project and explain why the project is deemed necessary.
January 28, 2015
Charlea Mills
Last night proved to be a busy night at the Butler Hollow Project open house. The event was scheduled to allow area residents to voice their opinions and ask questions about the proposed Butler Hollow Project, a National Forest plan to implement new maintenance to the Butler Hollow region of the Mark Twain National Forest in Cassville.
More than 100 people attended the open house which was held in the Show Me Plaza in Cassville on Highway 248. Representatives from the Forest Service were on site with information and to answer questions about the proposal as part of their extended public comment period on the project. Initially, a 30-day public comment period closed in late December, but the Ava Cassville Willow Springs Ranger District opted to open up an additional 12-day comment period to continue to get input.
Last night, most people in attendance seemed to be concerned with the negative aspects of the proposal, focusing primarily on how the logging, burning and other work will affect the beauty of the area. Other issues brought up included how it will impact wildlife, the smoke from the controlled burn and the possibility of leaving the forest without enough diversity to protect against disease.
Much of the project will consist of controlled burns on 17,517 acres and conversion to open woodland on 10,842 acres. Currently, most of the acreage in Butler Hollow is closed woodland. If the land is converted to open woodland, a move that the Forestry Department says will put the land back to the way it was historically, the canopy overstory on the land would be 30 to 50 percent with a dense shrub layer on the forest floor. According to the public comment package, much of the trees in the area are non-native, diseased and maturing at the same rate. The forestry service claims the proposed project will make the forest more manageable long-term and be healthier.
Area residents were quick to share comments at the open house. Local resident and auctioneer Donnie Stumpff raised concerns about how the project will affect tourism in Barry County. Stumpff said, “It’ll affect the economy here, too. People come from all over to visit here. They stay in motels, go fishing, hiking and four-wheeling because of the beauty we have. This will stop that. It will affect the economy, and we don’t need it any worse than it is now.”
Tommy Guyll, a Seligman resident, said that he and his wife live in the forest where the burning will occur. He said, “The biggest thing is that, where we live, the smoke from the fires will get us stuck up there, and we’re also worried about the animals, where will they go? They’ll burn them out, or they’ll leave.” His wife, Helen, added, “They’ll burn it and it’ll be ugly for a really long time.”
Joe Koloski, District Ranger of the ACWS Ranger District, tried to alleviate fears related to the project. He said, “The direct effect to the wildlife in the area is just not something we see with prescribed burns. All of the actions that we are proposing are very beneficial to the deer and turkey in this area. As it is, with very little understory, there is very little that deer can reach. With an open woodland, the understory is more developed with plenty of grasses that provide nesting for turkeys and food for deer. You see positive population effects over time because the animals in this area suited to a fire-adapted ecosystem.” Koloski added that historically, whether naturally-occurring or intentional burns by Native Americans, fire has shaped the land here for eons, and the animals have always adapted to it.
Jeanne Kirch and her husband have lived near Big M Marina for 12 years, and she attended the meeting last night to discuss her concerns with erosion and the appearance of the forest. She said, “We moved here to retire. We want it to be beautiful. I just think we should let mother nature take its course.”
Another concerned citizen, Lionel Jolliffe, of Cassville, is worried about the amount of work being done to the land at one time. He said, “It seems to be an awful lot to do at one time, and it also seems like some of the things in the public comment packet contradict other things. I’m not saying that they didn’t think this through, I think they put a lot of thought into it, but I think it’s too much.”
Jolliffe continued, “I think the burning of the underbrush is one thing, but according to the percentages in the packet, that’s a lot of trees they are taking out, as well. If they clear out the red oaks and only leave the white, that could be a problem. They’re already saying that the white oaks are being attacked by something that they don’t know what it is. By eliminating the diversity, it leaves the forest vulnerable to disease. I just really want to encourage people to look out at Chute Ridge and see how devastated it is. It used to be forest, but they cleared out everything. I just think this is too much at one time.”
The area at Chute Ridge that multiple people brought up at the open house is along route F. When Koloski was asked about that particular area and how that could compare to the treatment of Butler Hollow, he said that there are major differences between the two. He said, “That area is a glade restoration area. Cedars encroached because they like that open area. Historically, when you see big groups of cedar, it was glades originally. That area is fairly new in that process, and initially, it can be somewhat shocking to the eye, but it takes time.”
Koloski also noted that the Forest Service acquired that land in 1995, but burning was being done prior to their management of the land. He said that glade restoration, like in Chute Ridge, can take up to 20 years to be completed with burns every three to five years. In terms of the glades in Butler Hollow, Koloski said, “In the proposal, there’s around 3,000 acres that will be glades, but if you look at the map, it is distributed throughout the land in that area. It won’t be one big area.”
Those in attendance last night were able to submit their comments on the project. Citizens can continue to make comments on the project until February 6, and at that point, then the ACWS Ranger District will look through all of the comments and go into the environmental assessment portion and address issues. Koloski said thatprocess will take at least a couple of months.
Koloski said, “I expect to have a draft proposal in the late spring or early summer on the project. Anyone that submitted a comment to the project will be notified once the draft is completed, and they’ll be able to object if they still have concerns.”
When asked for a time frame on when the work on the forest could begin if the Ranger District opts to go through with the Butler Hollow Project, Koloski said, “If there is no objection to the proposal, it could be early next year that we start, but that is very contingent on a lot of ifs.”
Koloski said that, while most of the people in attendance at the open house who sought him out personally were bringing up concerns, there was a good mix of both positive and negative comments overall. He said that they also had a fair number of people who just wanted to ask questions and learn more about what the proposal intended.
Citizens can still contact the Mark Twain National Forest ACWS Ranger District and read the public comment package and submit opinions. For more information on the Butler Hollow Project or to make a public comment, go to http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/mtnf/projects or call Allen Weathersbee at the Mark Twain National Forest, Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs District Office, at (417) 683-4428 ext. 131.
Charlea Mills
Last night proved to be a busy night at the Butler Hollow Project open house. The event was scheduled to allow area residents to voice their opinions and ask questions about the proposed Butler Hollow Project, a National Forest plan to implement new maintenance to the Butler Hollow region of the Mark Twain National Forest in Cassville.
More than 100 people attended the open house which was held in the Show Me Plaza in Cassville on Highway 248. Representatives from the Forest Service were on site with information and to answer questions about the proposal as part of their extended public comment period on the project. Initially, a 30-day public comment period closed in late December, but the Ava Cassville Willow Springs Ranger District opted to open up an additional 12-day comment period to continue to get input.
Last night, most people in attendance seemed to be concerned with the negative aspects of the proposal, focusing primarily on how the logging, burning and other work will affect the beauty of the area. Other issues brought up included how it will impact wildlife, the smoke from the controlled burn and the possibility of leaving the forest without enough diversity to protect against disease.
Much of the project will consist of controlled burns on 17,517 acres and conversion to open woodland on 10,842 acres. Currently, most of the acreage in Butler Hollow is closed woodland. If the land is converted to open woodland, a move that the Forestry Department says will put the land back to the way it was historically, the canopy overstory on the land would be 30 to 50 percent with a dense shrub layer on the forest floor. According to the public comment package, much of the trees in the area are non-native, diseased and maturing at the same rate. The forestry service claims the proposed project will make the forest more manageable long-term and be healthier.
Area residents were quick to share comments at the open house. Local resident and auctioneer Donnie Stumpff raised concerns about how the project will affect tourism in Barry County. Stumpff said, “It’ll affect the economy here, too. People come from all over to visit here. They stay in motels, go fishing, hiking and four-wheeling because of the beauty we have. This will stop that. It will affect the economy, and we don’t need it any worse than it is now.”
Tommy Guyll, a Seligman resident, said that he and his wife live in the forest where the burning will occur. He said, “The biggest thing is that, where we live, the smoke from the fires will get us stuck up there, and we’re also worried about the animals, where will they go? They’ll burn them out, or they’ll leave.” His wife, Helen, added, “They’ll burn it and it’ll be ugly for a really long time.”
Joe Koloski, District Ranger of the ACWS Ranger District, tried to alleviate fears related to the project. He said, “The direct effect to the wildlife in the area is just not something we see with prescribed burns. All of the actions that we are proposing are very beneficial to the deer and turkey in this area. As it is, with very little understory, there is very little that deer can reach. With an open woodland, the understory is more developed with plenty of grasses that provide nesting for turkeys and food for deer. You see positive population effects over time because the animals in this area suited to a fire-adapted ecosystem.” Koloski added that historically, whether naturally-occurring or intentional burns by Native Americans, fire has shaped the land here for eons, and the animals have always adapted to it.
Jeanne Kirch and her husband have lived near Big M Marina for 12 years, and she attended the meeting last night to discuss her concerns with erosion and the appearance of the forest. She said, “We moved here to retire. We want it to be beautiful. I just think we should let mother nature take its course.”
Another concerned citizen, Lionel Jolliffe, of Cassville, is worried about the amount of work being done to the land at one time. He said, “It seems to be an awful lot to do at one time, and it also seems like some of the things in the public comment packet contradict other things. I’m not saying that they didn’t think this through, I think they put a lot of thought into it, but I think it’s too much.”
Jolliffe continued, “I think the burning of the underbrush is one thing, but according to the percentages in the packet, that’s a lot of trees they are taking out, as well. If they clear out the red oaks and only leave the white, that could be a problem. They’re already saying that the white oaks are being attacked by something that they don’t know what it is. By eliminating the diversity, it leaves the forest vulnerable to disease. I just really want to encourage people to look out at Chute Ridge and see how devastated it is. It used to be forest, but they cleared out everything. I just think this is too much at one time.”
The area at Chute Ridge that multiple people brought up at the open house is along route F. When Koloski was asked about that particular area and how that could compare to the treatment of Butler Hollow, he said that there are major differences between the two. He said, “That area is a glade restoration area. Cedars encroached because they like that open area. Historically, when you see big groups of cedar, it was glades originally. That area is fairly new in that process, and initially, it can be somewhat shocking to the eye, but it takes time.”
Koloski also noted that the Forest Service acquired that land in 1995, but burning was being done prior to their management of the land. He said that glade restoration, like in Chute Ridge, can take up to 20 years to be completed with burns every three to five years. In terms of the glades in Butler Hollow, Koloski said, “In the proposal, there’s around 3,000 acres that will be glades, but if you look at the map, it is distributed throughout the land in that area. It won’t be one big area.”
Those in attendance last night were able to submit their comments on the project. Citizens can continue to make comments on the project until February 6, and at that point, then the ACWS Ranger District will look through all of the comments and go into the environmental assessment portion and address issues. Koloski said thatprocess will take at least a couple of months.
Koloski said, “I expect to have a draft proposal in the late spring or early summer on the project. Anyone that submitted a comment to the project will be notified once the draft is completed, and they’ll be able to object if they still have concerns.”
When asked for a time frame on when the work on the forest could begin if the Ranger District opts to go through with the Butler Hollow Project, Koloski said, “If there is no objection to the proposal, it could be early next year that we start, but that is very contingent on a lot of ifs.”
Koloski said that, while most of the people in attendance at the open house who sought him out personally were bringing up concerns, there was a good mix of both positive and negative comments overall. He said that they also had a fair number of people who just wanted to ask questions and learn more about what the proposal intended.
Citizens can still contact the Mark Twain National Forest ACWS Ranger District and read the public comment package and submit opinions. For more information on the Butler Hollow Project or to make a public comment, go to http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/mtnf/projects or call Allen Weathersbee at the Mark Twain National Forest, Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs District Office, at (417) 683-4428 ext. 131.
