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Save the Black Hills from the Mountain Pine Beetle


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January 18, 2012

A few weeks ago, we mentioned the groundbreaking agreement that would allow Lawrence County to cut green, mountain pine beetle-infested trees on US Forest Service-managed land. It’s an agreement so unique that it literally exists nowhere else in the United States. A timber-cutting agreement of this nature is substantial because the US Forest Service has never granted a non-federal organization the permission to assist in forest management procedures.

This week, the actual tree cutting process began here in the northern Black Hills. Under the management of the County, well-qualified timber cutters spread into the Spearfish Mountain and Spearfish Canyon areas to start the cutting and sectioning of previously identified ponderosa pine trees. And, with an estimated 500,000 to one million trees currently infested in Lawrence County, these timber cutters will have plenty of work ahead of them.

As previously mentioned, our group – the Spearfish Canyon Foundation – is funding a significant portion of this mountain pine beetle mitigation project. At a recent meeting of the Lawrence County Commissioners, Spearfish Canyon Foundation members, Karl Burke and Myles Kennedy, presented the first $25,000 check of our $125,000 commitment to the project.

In addition to the Spearfish Canyon Foundation, other entities that have made significant financial contributions to fund this effort include:

If you or your organization would like to contribute to this important project, you can make a financial donation of any size by using the yellow Donate buttons found on this website. Your gift will go directly toward this unprecedented partnership that will make a difference in and around Spearfish Canyon.

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