Shawnee Under Siege

by Jason Tockman

What do you get when you mix one of the most biologically diverse and recreation-friendly forests in Ohio with rampant logging and poor management? The Shawnee State Forest. Under the leadership of Forest Manager Stan Richards, the Shawnee has suffered ravaging clearcuts and enormous "high-graded" select cuts, leaving it in a severely degraded condition.

With 62,000 acres straddling Scioto and Adams counties, the Shawnee is the largest state forest and the most continuous of all large public holding in Ohio. Known as the "Little Smokies," it is home to the state's only wilderness, an 8,000-acre area containing many rare and endangered species.

With Ohio ranking 47th out of the 50 states for public lands available per capita for recreation, one would think that a place like the Shawnee would be managed with recreation in mind. Despite pleas from the local township trustees to stop "the devastation of this beautiful Shawnee State Forest," however, the timber sales continue to be cruised, planned and executed. Of all of Ohio's state forests, the Shawnee bears the brunt of the timber sales. And being at the southern edge of the state, it is relatively ignored by the media, politicians and the public.

In the late 1980s, the Save Our Shawnee Committee was formed to express outrage with the mismanagement of the Shawnee. Its political pressure, and the pull of State Representative and Speaker of the House Vern Riffle, resulted in a ban on clearcutting in the Shawnee. The ban was in place until the Division of Forestry overturned it in 1994.

Before long, clearcutting resumed with two cuts totaling 32 acres. Two more clearcuts were recently sold along an area known as Sunshine Ridge. Numerous selective logging projects are also at varying stages of completion, including a timber sale adjacent to the wilderness area. The Division of Forestry explains that the cutting is for "natural regeneration." Apparently dissatisfied with the existing stands of mature hardwood forests, the managers of the Shawnee are hell-bent on transforming the entire Shawnee to little more than a 54,000-acre tree farm surrounding a 8,000-acre wilderness area. It's enough to make one take seriously Manager Richards' off-color quip about turning the forest into the "Shawnee State Desert."

The fact that Richards is related through marriage to one of the companies that regularly logs the Shawnee doesn't help matters. The company, S&S Lumber, has cut seven timber sales on the Shawnee in as many years, and recently traded forested land in the Shawnee for clearcut land owned by S&S.

Numerous citizens living near the Shawnee recently vocalized their concerns at a hearing hosted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Rhonda Blake of West Portsmouth, Ohio, confronted the Division; "You guys are cutting it faster than it can grow back. I want to see mature trees, not saplings." Another citizen at the hearing berated the Division for its clearcutting practices. "I've never seen a clearcut used in a manner that it's supposed to be used," said Bert Crothers, of Portsmouth. "After clearcutting we have silting and runoff and those lake out there are continuously filled with silt and dirt."

A coalition of local, state and national groups has come together under the title of the Shawnee Coalition to serve as a conduit for concerns over the management of the Shawnee State Forest. The coalition is highlighting several problems including damage to water quality, harm to wildlife habitat, the costs of road and bridge repair, the impact that logging has on local property values and the effect on the recreation and tourism industry.

What you can do: contact Senator Shoemaker, Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio 43215, (614) 466-8156 or a State Representative, 77 South High St., Columbus, Ohio 43266, (614) 466-2124. Demand an end to logging on the Shawnee State Forest and the replacement of Stan Richards! For more information contact the Buckeye Forest Council at (614) 594-6400 or buckeye@envirolink.org