Starve.Org White Noise Usenet Archive: "Logging proposal worries Oregonians"

Saturday, February 24, 2001

By Paul Fattig, Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.

Michael Hammond doesn't consider himself an environmental extremist.

But the co-chairman of the Upper Rogue Watershed Association figures
the U.S. Forest Service's proposed harvest of up to 65.4 million board
feet of timber on some 6,700 acres in the watershed may be a bit much.

"Just imagine about 13,000 loads of logs coming through Prospect,"
said Hammond, 52, who lives on land in the watershed that has been in
his family for more than half a century. "That's going to be an
immense operation."

But agency officials are quick to observe that the harvest, although
the proposed alternative, is only one of five options contained in its
draft environmental impact statement released late last year. The
first alternative calls for no action; other alternatives call for a
much smaller harvest on fewer acres.

The Forest Service draft environmental impact statement for the Mill
Creek Timber Sales project includes five alternatives. Alternative
One: no action Alternative Two: This is the agency's proposed
alternative, which includes harvesting 65.4 million board feet of
timber on 6,713 acres. Alternative Three: Plans call for harvesting
64.4 million board feet on 6,595 acres. Alternative Four: This plan
would result in a harvest of 45.9 million board feet on 5,197 acres.
Alternative Five: This action would produce 29.5 million board feet of
timber from 3,827 acres.

Each of the alternatives would be spread over a 10-year period. In
addition to a variety of logging practices, the alternatives would
include other projects like road decommissioning and burning to
improve wildlife habitat.

Moreover, the project, although the largest timber-cutting package
proposed in the region in recent years, would be spread over 10 years,
said Nancy Rose, timber staff officer for the Rogue River and Siskiyou
national forests.

The timber sales are scattered in the Mill Creek drainage area in the
Prospect Ranger District.

Jack Williams, supervisor of the two forests, will make a decision on
the project in the next two months, she said.

"Right now, he's looking at comments we have received from the
public," she said. "His decision will consider those comments as well
as our analysis."

The deadline for comments on the plan was Jan. 16.

"We have had some very well-thought-out comments," Rose said,
acknowledging the agency had expected more than the 20 comments it
received from groups and individuals.

At this point, Williams is looking at a possible blend of the three
alternatives, calling for a lower harvest than the proposed
alternative, she said.

Depending on Williams' decision, logging could be done on up to 160
sites in the area, she said.

"There is really no telling how many timber sales that would be," she
said, noting that would depend on which logging methods are used.

Much of the work is being done to reduce the potential for
catastrophic fires, she said.

"But we must have a biological opinion before we can move forward on
this," she said, referring to a federal court case in northern Oregon
that may impact what happens with the Mill Creek Timber Sales.

The Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, an environmental group based in
Williams, is also concerned about the biological impact.

The group is worried about soil compaction, cutting on roadless areas
that border the Crater Lake National Park and that fact the preferred
method of logging would be clearcutting, according to Tom Dimitre, the
group's project analyst.

"We're talking up to 65 million board feet of timber," said Dimitre
who is also chair of the Rogue Group Sierra Club. "That's a lot of
timber. (The Wildlands Center's membership) feels they should be doing
more restoration, not more cutting."

The project would be good news to the local timber industry, said Dave
Hill, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber
Industries Association.

"That would certainly help some of the existing mill operations in
Jackson and Josephine counties," Hill said. "It's good for those still
operating but I don't know if it'll help those already mothballed or
shutdown."

Under the Northwest Forest Plan, the Rogue River forest's annual
targeted cut is about 25 million board feet, compared to some 24
million board feet for the Siskiyou forest.

The annual cut on the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District is
57 million board feet.

For his part, Hammond whose group is dedicated to improving the
watershed through education and cooperation, hopes that the project
won't foster more extreme views in the debate over the management of
public forestlands.

"I'm seeking a different place than polarization," he said. "I just
want to understand.

"I'm an old-fashioned conservationist," he added. "It seems to me that
when we start getting down to less than 10 percent of our native
forest, then our bank account is getting a little slim."