By JAYSON JACOBY

Baker City Herald

The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest sold more timber during the past fiscal year than in any of the previous five years.

And the forest’s timber sales officer said Thursday that a slight boost in the Wallowa-Whitman’s timber budget could help the forest maintain its sales momentum for the next few years.

Carla Monismith, who oversees the timber sales program for the Baker City-based Wallowa-Whitman, said Forest Supervisor Steve Ellis has set a goal of offering for sale at least 30 million board-feet of timber each fiscal year.

The Wallowa-Whitman nearly got there during fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30. During that 12-month period the forest offered 28.7 million board-feet of timber, Monismith said.

That’s enough wood to build about 1,500 homes of 2,000 square feet each.

It’s also the biggest volume of timber the Wallowa-Whitman has offered since fiscal 2001’s total of 32 million board-feet.

Mills bought almost all the timber the Wallowa-Whitman put up for sale last fiscal year, Monismith said.

Only one timber sale failed to attract a buyer the Red Vine sale in Wallowa County, which includes 1.9 million board-feet.

That timber, which went to auction Sept. 27, was available only to small businesses through a federal program designed to help such businesses, including Wallowa Forest Products, the mill nearest the timber sale, Monismith said.

But Wallowa Forest Products is closed indefinitely, and D.R. Johnson Lumber Co., which owns the mill, didn’t bid, she said.

Monismith said the Wallowa-Whitman will offer the Red Vine sale during the current fiscal year, but without the small-business restriction that precluded firms such as Boise Building Solutions from bidding on Sept. 27. She expects the Red Vine timber will be sold.

More than half the timber the Wallowa-Whitman offered last fiscal year came from a trio of sales.

The largest, called Mile 9, is near Unity and includes 6.4 million board-feet. D.R. Johnson Lumber bought that timber this summer, Monismith said.

The two other main sales, Bald Angel and Smith, stand next to each other in Union County several miles east of Medical Springs.

Dodge Logging of Maupin bought Bald Angel (4.2 million board-feet) and Smith (5.4 million), Monismith said.

Although the Wallowa-Whitman added both sales to its timber total for fiscal 2007, it’s not clear when, or whether, loggers will ever fall trees in either sale.

In early August a pair of environmental groups sued the Wallowa-Whitman, seeking to stop the Bald Angel and Smith sales, as well as a third adjacent project, called Cold Angel, which forest officials intend to offer for sale during fiscal 2008.

The plaintiffs, Hells Canyon Preservation Council of La Grande and Oregon Wild of Portland, have asked a judge to grant an injunction that would prohibit logging on any of those sales until the lawsuit is concluded.

Monismith said the Wallowa-Whitman added a clause to the contracts for the two timber sales that bans Dodge Logging from cutting any trees until a judge has decided on the plaintiffs’ motion for an injunction. Monismith expects a hearing on that motion will take place in November.

Greg Dyson, executive director of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council (HCPC) , said that although the group opposes parts of the Bald Angel project, such disputes with the Wallowa-Whitman have been rare during the past several years.

andquot;There are lots of areas where they can do non-controversial timber sales, and if the sales volume is increasing I think that’s the reason, because they are focusing on those areas,andquot; Dyson said.

He thinks Wallowa-Whitman officials and representatives from the HCPC are committed to andquot;more of a collaborative approach, which is great to see.andquot;

In any case, Dyson said, he judges each timber sale separately, rather than focusing on each year’s sales volumes.

andquot;Total volume is kind of a non-issue for us,andquot; he said. andquot;What we care about is how each individual project affects the landscape and the wildlife habitat and the fish habitat.andquot;

Meantime, Monismith said the Wallowa-Whitman’s timber staff is ahead of schedule for fiscal 2008 due largely to an unexpected infusion of money this summer from the Forest Service’s regional office in Portland.

That $228,000 infusion boosted the Wallowa-Whitman’s timber budget to about $2.45 million, compared with $2.1 million in fiscal 2006, Monismith said.

The extra money didn’t affect the forest’s fiscal 2007 timber program, but officials did hire seasonal employees and contractors to do preliminary work on several planned sales, including botanical and archaeological studies that federal law requires, Monismith said.

Although Ellis’ goal of offering at least 30 million board-feet of timber each year represents a significant increase compared with the 2002-04 period, when the Wallowa-Whitman’s annual average was 16 million board-feet, that goal is still puny compared with the forest’s timber program during the 1970s and 1980s.

Between 1976 and 1990, the Wallowa-Whitman, at 2.4 million acres the largest of the 19 national forests in Oregon and Washington, sold an average of 203 million board-feet of timber per year.

The forest hasn’t sold more than 54 million board-feet in any year since fiscal 1992.