Tweeters,

I was somewhat surprised to see a suggestion that slash burning is done to
eliminate alder, salal, and other plants that compete with commercial species.
I burned a lot of slash during summers working for the Forest Service in the
late 1970s and we burned the slash to get rid of the slash. All of the
limbs, roots wads, and other organic debris stood in the way of tree planters
and the sunlight necessary to get a new crop of trees going.

I recently learned that Bob Anderson, a Weyerhaeuser Company wildlife research
biologist, has not seen a golden eagle during his nest surveys since about
1990. In the 1980s, Bob monitored the nesting activities of perhaps a half
dozen nesting pairs of golden eagles on Weyerhaeuser lands in western
Washington. I know that there were nesting pairs in other areas of western
Washington during this period, primarily in the more heavily cut-over areas.
Remnant patches of old-growth provided nesting structures for the birds which
found good foraging areas in the recent clear-cuts. Mountain beaver were found
to be important prey for these birds. Bob Anderson observed that nest tree
locations appeared to shift around on the landscape, moving away from areas
where dense growth of trees and shrubs made prey less available. In fact, it
appeared that foraging habitat was optimal for only 5 to 10 years after clear-
cutting.

I don't know why we've lost nesting golden eagles from the Weyerhaeuser lands
and I don't know if this phenomenon has affected other western Washington
areas. I haven't heard of any recent golden eagle nesting in western
Washington. I am sure there are records (Mike Smith can help here) but it
may be much reduced and I supect it is because clear-cut logging practices
are not creating the vast cut-over areas that were common in the 70s and 80s
(or maybe the small,remnant patches of old-growth that the birds nested in
are mostly gone now).

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife