AZ Central – Decades ago, the logging industry had it backward, removing old-growth trees while leaving the small ones. That’s no longer the case. A coalition of stakeholders, including some former adversaries, came together to fundamentally rethink how we manage ponderosa pine forests in Arizona.
Recognizing the need to correct course and safely restore natural fire cycles, state and federal forest managers joined environmentalists, small-diameter wood companies, local communities and scientists in a public-private partnership. Today’s focus on thinning small, fire-prone trees came out of that partnership.