Goal of McVey restoration project in the Black Hills disputed

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – In 2019, the U.S. Forest Service launched a restoration project to restore the natural landscape of the McVey burn scar outside of Hill City.

Could the project lead to commercial timber production there? That depends on who you ask.

In 1939, the McVey fire decimated approximately 22,000 acres of forest, drastically changing the landscape according to the U.S. Forest Service.

A little after the fire was extinguished, the Forest Service says the impacted area was seeded and replanted with non-native Ponderosa Pine that originated from outside the Black Hills. In addition, they say the planting led to non-regenerated, poorly formed ponderosa pine which can cause hazardous fuel conditions.

With the McVey fire restoration project launching in 2019, the executive director of the Black Hills Forest Resource Association, Ben Wudtke, believes the project serves a big purpose.

“It was to correct a planting mistake from the 1930s, and this is to restore the forest long-term, provide better habitat, reduce fire hazard and disease susceptibility to these forests,” said Wudtke.

Wudtke claims several individuals and groups have spread misinformation about the project on social media. He wants to make it clear that the project’s purpose is not to produce commercial timber, rather to restore the natural landscape.

“The purpose of this project was not to put up commercial timber. It was not at the behest of the forest products industry or elected officials,” said Wudtke.

A former U.S. Forest Service employee, Dave Mertz, said he agrees with the rationale of the McVey project and that the project’s purpose was not for timber production, rather for restoration.

His real concern is that the increase in timber harvest levels that the timber industry is wanting could eventually lead to clear cutting in other areas of the Black Hills National Forest.

“The clear cutting could be one of the ramifications down the road of increased timber harvest levels,” said Mertz.

Mertz believes the Black Hills Forest Resource Association and other organizations took issue with what he told KOTA Territory the last time he spoke with us.

Mertz was at the burn scar area the last time we spoke with him to show an example of what the landscape could look like if the U.S. Forest Service tries to meet the level of timber harvesting requested by the U.S. Congressional Delegation from South Dakota.

“People get the impression that clear-cutting is going to happen on a wide scale across the forest,” said Mertz. “They don’t want that in the public’s mind.”

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