Stanislaus National Forest officials met with industry workers and management yesterday morning to outline upcoming forest timber sales.

The largest sale of the year is 10.4 million board-feet planned on the Mi-Wok Ranger District — acreage stretching from Tuolumne to Cold Springs.

That sale, south of Highway 108 and north of the North Fork of the Tuolumne River, aims to reduce fire-fuel hazards that could threaten communities like Ponderosa Hills and Long Barn, said Dave Horak, timber sale contracting officer for the Stanislaus.

Bidding for the South Highway 108 sale is scheduled to start at the end of the month. A contract should be awarded sometime after May 1.

Timber industry employers, such as Sierra Pacific Industries and Sierra Resource Management, were at yesterday's meeting as were groups like the Tuolumne County Alliance for Resources & Environment and the American Forest Resource Council. A representative from Congressman George Radanovich's office also attended.

About 45 people showed up for the three-hour meeting, held at the Forest Supervisor's Greenley Road office in Sonora.

Forest leaders discussed the Stanislaus' five-year vegetation management plan, which allows the forest, starting this year, to gradually increase its timber harvest until 2011.

This fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, the forest has a goal of cutting 21 million board-feet — a jump from 14 million board-feet last year. A board foot is an inch-thick, foot-square piece of lumber.

Deb Romberger, the forest's resource management program area leader, said the forest is now in the process of taking those conceptual plans and making them a reality.

The Stanislaus continues to fill many new positions, ranging from timber sale planners to hydrologists, needed to increase the timber harvest amounts.

Each of the forest's four district rangers spoke of the logging and fuel-reduction projects on their districts.

On the Calaveras District there are five proposed sales this year totaling more than 2.8 million board-feet.

The Summit District has two sales planned for this year allowing 2.6 million board-feet to be cut. It also shares a 6.8 million board-foot sale with the Mi-Wok District.

And the Groveland District has two planned sales totaling more than 1 million board-feet.

Environmental analysis decisions have yet to be made on some of those sales, however, so they might not happen as planned, Romberger said.