The U.S. Forest Service is restoring the health of aspen and ponderosa pine stands in the western Black Hills.
Jeffrey Underhill works for the Black Hills National Forest. He says the project will remove spruce trees to allow for natural regrowth or planting of ponderosa and aspen.
Underhill says modern fire suppression allows spruce trees to dominate.
“This is a pretty common thing across the western United States, where you remove the disturbance that maintained one species, or two – in this case aspen and ponderosa pine – in these systems and with that disturbance no longer there, then another species, like spruce, expands and does really well under those conditions.”
Underhill says logging contractors will remove most of the excess spruce.
The Hell Canyon Ranger District is accepting public comments on the project until May 14th.