Only a year after the Davis Lake Fire, the Deschutes National Forest has come out with a plan to log some of the dead trees. This is quite an accomplishment – such plans usually take twice as long – but don’t count your 2-by-4s yet. The plan could be headed toward a snag.

The snag has to do with snags, or dead trees, which provide homes for various bugs and animals. Environmentalists contend that the Forest Service’s plan would remove too many of the large trees likely to remain standing for a long period, ultimately reducing the number of snags that might be used by eagles and spotted owls. If the Forest Service moves forward with its proposal, it’s ”going to have problems head on,” Tim Lillebo of the Oregon Natural Resources Council has threatened, er, predicted.

Now, Lillebo is correct in arguing that snags matter, and that, at least in the short run, removing sizable dead trees will be worse for animals that depend upon them than leaving the trees there. But it doesn’t follow that the Forest Service is proposing to do the wrong thing. It isn’t – not by a long shot.

The plan doesn’t call for the removal of all large, dead trees. In fact, none of the largest trees – those 36 inches in diameter at breast height or larger – will be cut at all. Some smaller snags will be left behind as well.

If some snags are good, you might argue, why not leave all big snags (20 inches in diameter and greater), especially in the so-called ”late successional reserve” areas identified by the Northwest Forest Plan as good habitat for endangered species? A couple of reasons. First, according to the draft environmental impact statement, ”these levels would leave fuel loadings well above suitable and sustainable levels” in LSR areas, which will see most of the logging. Second, larger trees are worth more money, and selling them helps pay for the removal of worthless small trees that also increase fire risk.

Creating a forest resistant to catastrophic wildfires – and doing so economically – isn’t a bad thing. If nothing else, removing some of the Davis Fire charcoal will improve the outlook for nearby timberland that hasn’t yet burned. And the average eagle or owl would probably prefer the preservation of live trees to that of an overabundance of dead ones.