Draft Compatibility Determination for Commercial Tree Harvesting, Neches River National Wildlife Refuge

Commercial timber harvest includes the cutting and removing of trees by various techniques, for sale or commercial. It is one of many refuge habitat management activities essential to supporting the NWRS mission, refuge purposes and habitat objectives identified in refuge plans.
Neches River NWR was established for:
• Protecting, restoring, and maintaining the bottomland hardwood forest plant community,
• Protecting and enhancing habitat for migratory bird use, and
• Protecting and enhancing habitat to sustain healthy populations of native fish and wildlife
species.
Neches River NWR only uses tree harvesting as a management activity. Revenue from the sale of forest products is a byproduct of the essential forest habitat management, a fiscally responsible tool for conservation for the American people. This habitat management activity requires a compatibility determination because it also meets the definition of “refuge management economic activity.”