Stumptown Earth First! Shuts Down SW 2nd Ave in front of Portland USFS Headquarters

Stumptown Earth First!, 30.03.2005 12:14

At 11 am, Stumptown Earth First! shutdown SW 2nd Avenue in downtown Portland in front of the USFS Region 6 Headquarters in protest of the Biscuit Logging Project. One protestor currently swings 20 feet in the air on a tripod structure above the roadway while 30 others rally around.

Nonviolent civil disobedience actions, aimed at keeping chainsaws out of the fragile post-burn recovery area, have already resulted in 42 arrests over the past three weeks in the Biscuit logging project. Today Stumptown Earth First! brings the struggle to save the Biscuit and end logging on public lands to the front doors of the USFS regional headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

"We're here today to bring the demands of the public to the front doors of the Forest Service. Logging is not restoration. This wasteful project will increase fire hazard, harm the local nature-based economy, hurt the regeneration of the forest, and cost the taxpayers millions of dollars," said the protestor perched in the tripod.

The US Forest Service has systematically undermined the public process for participating in land management decisions related to this project. When the USFS first proposed the Biscuit Fire Recovery Project, they received over 23,000 comments from the public, more than 95% of them expressing opposition and outrage. In response, the Bush Administration gave the USFS unprecedented new powers to declare “emergency exemptions” and deny the citizens who commented their legal right to appeal the final decision.

The Siskiyou Mountains of Southwest Oregon contain the largest expanse of wildlands left on the west coast of the US and are internationally recognized for the extraordinary biodiversity they support. The Siskiyou National Forest is the most botanically diverse in the nation, and the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area contains the highest concentration of federally-designated Wild and Scenic Rivers in the lower 48.

The Biscuit Logging Project targets 31 square miles of sensitive forest areas, including thousands of acres of roadless areas. This extreme logging is fraudulently billed as restoration, contradicting the opinions of respected scientists, such as Northwest Forest Plan architect Jerry Franklin. The majority of Americans are opposed to the continued logging of native and old growth forests on public lands, yet the US Forest Service continues to undermine the process of public participation while catering to the demands of the timber industry.

Stumptown Earth First! plans to continue protesting the commercial logging of our national forests. The 25th annual Earth First! national Round River Rendezvous will take place this July in Mt. Hood National Forest outside Portland, Oregon.

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go go go 30.03.2005 - 12:56 This is only the begining of a strong campaign against corporate greed and old growth logging on public lands. the word is out and the public clearly disagrees with wilderness areas being subject to massive distuction. let our lands be!!! Mori D.> Hello? 30.03.2005 - 17:09 Ground controll to Captain Tom! Destruction of wilderness areas? The only thing that has caused destruction in the Kalmiopsis is the Biscuit Fire. A road block in downtown Portland. I love it! Couldn't come up with anything better myself! Keep making fools of yourselves guys! Michael Franti> Wilderness is a State of Mind 30.03.2005 - 17:33 Thats why I logged in the Kalmiopsis as part of the roadside hazard scam last year. Seriously. I logged in the damn wilderness and got away with it! Now I'm precluding thousands of acres from Wilderness eligibility. I say jump, the Forest Service says how high! I am king timber pimp! I can log anywhere! John West> EarthFirst! Rocks 30.03.2005 - 17:42 I was so excited when I saw this. What a great statement!!! The Forest Circus wants to keep the protesters out of the woods, so take the direct action to the bureauRats where they (hope to) hide out in their conrete forts. EarthFirst! You guys, and gals, rock! Amazing! Keep it up! Peat Moss> "Us First" 31.03.2005 - 09:22 You're INSANE! Voice of Sanity> Its only a matter of time, not if but when 31.03.2005 - 10:00 Way to go, showing how useless you EF'er fags are. Its only a matter of time before we round you all up and ship you off. Way to go law enforcement. To bad you can't leave a lasting impression on the EF'ers. T. Bowman> Blathering from both sides 31.03.2005 - 12:13 Such childish behaviors from both sides shouldn't be tolerated. I, personally, prefer middle-of-the-road solutions based on science. I also, begrudgingly, applaud EarthFirst's willingness to explore logging (aka "good silviculture") as a tool towards forest restoration. I also acknowledge the fact that the timber industry has made many compromises along the way to get where we are today. However, we're still far from being where we need to be in restoring our National Forests. Are you (generically-speaking) part of the solution, or are you a part of the problem???? Mtn_high> e-mail:: lhfotoware@hotmail.com Support from this neck of the woods 31.03.2005 - 14:28 I first learned about this action by listening to Lars Larson on his hate radio show. It was lunchtime from work and I was taking Poindexter to the dog park in Ashland and yes, i was listening to Lars. I can not help it, I am a media junkie, and listen, read, and watch the right wing media all the time. As the action was happening and at about 12:15 p.m. Lars Larson fielded a number of calls that echoed various ways to get "Mr. Tripod" to come down. Things like thowing him off a Portland Bridge and doing electricity experiments with the metal tripod as a couple of examples. It was a feeding frenzy of hate with Lars cheering and encouraging various ways of committing various assaults. The name calling of environmentalists coupled with the cheering for assault was more than incredible, it was absolutely frightening. At some point Freedom of Speech crosses the line. There is a reason you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. And when you get a right wing hate-talk-radio-show host who is spearheading ways to hurt somebody it seems to me the line has been crossed. I have heard Lars calling for vehicles to run down bicyclists, yet another place where I think this screwball knowingly and willingly incites criminal behaviour. KEEP UP THE STRUGGLE. AND BE CAREFUL OF THE HATE MONGERS. peace. wes-> Your red neck of the woods 31.03.2005 - 14:53 So you don't want freedom of speech to cross the line...like blocking traffic in downtown Portland. and enciting criminal behavior is taboo. These things are true but only if you disagree with the message....wow this is rich. Next time maybe you should ask Poindexter if he can check your logic. By the way, Larson is an idiot, you might want to see if you too can make money that way. Amazed> Industry compromises? 31.03.2005 - 19:02 The Timber Industry has made alot of compromises???! That is a laugh. You should come down here and go on a tour with the Forest Service personel. They will tell you that they no longer allow clearcuts. And when you point to what is obviously right in front of your eyes a clear-cut they will politely tell you it is not a clear cut it is a Regeneration Harvest. Another word for they cut down all the trees! Siskiyou Local> "Regeneration cuts" vs clearcuts 01.04.2005 - 11:43 While the end results look remarkable similar, reasons for doing each practice are miles apart. On your tour, I'm sure that they offered the differences between the two. Whether you listened with an open mind, or not, I don't know. Of course, the main reason for clearcutting on Forest Service lands was purely economic, with a little bit of faulty scientific reasoning factored in for good measure. Just drawing a line on a map around a bunch of big trees and cutting them all was an economically simple way to generate profits and "get the cut out". Too simple, when you don't include ecosystem values into the equation. Not many today would argue that clearcutting is still the way to go in National Forest land management. "Regeneration cuts" are a whole different thing but, again, not without controversy. Generally, those kinds of cuts are of much, much smaller size than the horrible mega-clearcuts of the past. The ones I have seen are limited to 5 acres and only involve cutting trees with poor form, slow growth and/or ongoing mortality. Of course, the root of the problem has almost always been when that piece of land was "high-graded" (a taking of the biggest and best trees, leaving the suppressed, weak and poorly-formed trees, while still claiming that the stand is "adequately stocked"...."high-grading" should be considered a form of "forest pollution", IMHO ). The real question is whether we compound the problem with one technique or another. Do we allow this unnatural condition to linger, until it withers, sickens and burns? Or do we wipe those trees out and replant it with trees that have thrived in the past? Add to that controversy the multitude of conditions possible within that site and the possible remedies available and you have the "big picture", muddled as it is. Once the trees are cut and gone, there is NO way to convince everyone that the technique was needed (unless you have before and after pictures). Rather than just telling the public, "This is what we're gonna do", the Forest Service needs to get interested parties out there on the ground and show them the site and the issues and then let the public help decide what is best for that piece of ground. Public participation is ESSENTIAL to doing what is right for Forest Service lands. The Forest Service should NOT be passing up opportunities to educate the public and earn bits of trust along the way. Unless, of course, the aim is to keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit. I hope this will find open minds Mtn_high> e-mail:: lhfotoware@hotmail.com Seen With My Own Eyes 01.04.2005 - 23:23 Mtn_High wrote: >Rather than just telling the public, "This is what we're gonna do", the >Forest Service needs to get interested parties out there on the ground >and show them the site and the issues and then let the public help >decide what is best for that piece of ground. The Forest Service already has open hikes in the public lands for comment periods; those are the "tours" I spoke of. And we do have the opportunity to comment on many FS proposals. And I have done that. Then the Forest Service says what it will do. But the Forest Service here is in this wierd dance with the miners and mills. I could tell you things that would make your head spin. In this instance today the case has been taken to court, but we have the Forest Service and the loggers dropping trees out here as quick as they can before the court date. I don't get into protesting everything the Forest Service does, I am rather selective of my time and energy. But logging in a Late Successional Reserve is crazy and now we have the sales coming up of trees in the Roadless Area! Harvesting trees there will impact the areas designation as LSR and as Roadless. A lesser designation means it is up for grabs for more logging and mining, further being degraded. They already have logging & mining in the rest of the mountains surrounding our valley. Why can't they leave one area alone? Leave something of the rare plants of this region for furture generations. Show what a natural forest looks like after fire. I have been walking the land, watching it come back these last few years after the fire. And it is something to see. Yes they do say Regeneration Harvest is done for a different reason. That is my point. Same style of logging, different wording. The Forest Service people tell me that the Regeneration Harvest is done because the trees have reached maximum growth and will only decline, so there is a Regen cut and trees can be replanted and there can again be growth. They leave a tree of two out there amongst the rubble so its "not a clearcut". But no matter the term used, it is still cutting all the trees and leaving a hot tore-up hillside. They plant nice straight rows of Douglas Fir. Our National Forest ends up looking like a Christmas tree farm. Just what all the tourists traveling between Crater Lake and the Ocean want to stop and see. *sarcastic tone in the voice* I am not an advocate of no cut. I know we need wood. But there are better ways. For instance there is an older friend of mine who owns a mill and selective cuts his own land in Selma. His family were some of the original loggers of the region. He went to college and then came back and began making a living doing his forestry, as a long term thing, not simply for the short term profits. He has a finite amount of private land and so he can't afford to do it poorly. I have walked his land many times. What he is doing is a beautiful thing to see. But it is a far cry from what I see in the National Forest. What they are doing in the National Forest is making it more fire hazardous, not less. The Fire supression policy for so long has caused a buildup of underbrush. And when they log they cut all the big trees and leave a tinderbox of slash behind. Then alot of the doug fir seedlings they plant do not survive our long hot dry summers. You walk down a hillside of knee-high douglas firs looking to see how many are alive and the Forest Service person is telling you that this is "fully stocked." And I am talking about "the usual" here in this area. These are the everyday concerns of those of us who live here. All this attention on first the fire and now the sale, may put it in today's news, but those of us who live here this has been a ongoing concern and will continue to be. ~ Sis Girl Siskiyou Local> Weird Dance 02.04.2005 - 09:53 Weird Dance? If the FS and the mills are so tight, why did it take almpost three years to get any wood out of Biscuit? Oh I forgot that tremendously huge gigantic world ending as we know it doomsday volume that was at risk of tipping over in the roads. If we're so tight why is there virtually no wood coming off the National Forests in the North West? Statistically speaking we ARE at ZERO cut? If we are so tight why is 40% of the wood that is being processed in Douglas County coming from outside of the area? If We're so tight why is the cut less now than when Clinton was in power? What fantasy world do you inhabit? Declare victory and go home. Boogeyman> LSRs, Roadless Areas, and Clearcuts 02.04.2005 - 10:54 A harvested regeneration unit on Mr. Wilson. Clearcut? I don't think so. > But logging in a Late Successional Reserve is crazy and now we have the > sales coming up of trees in the Roadless Area! Harvesting trees there > will impact the areas designation as LSR and as Roadless. I don't know where you're getting this. Both Clinton's roadless rule as well as the LSR designation in the Northwest Forest Plan explicitly allow for harvest in LSR and Roadless areas. > Show what a natural forest looks like after fire. Nothing 'natural' about the biscuit fire. Anyways, well over 96% of the burn area isn't being touched. There's your 'natural' area for you. > Yes they do say Regeneration Harvest is done for a different reason. > That is my point. Same style of logging, different wording. Mtn. High's words must have gone right over your head. Let me explain it one more time. Clearcuts remove all the trees, and don't do a very good job of mimicking 'natural' disturbances. Regeneration harvests leave large numbers of standing live trees, snags, and downed wood in order to mimick 'natural' (historical might be a better word) disturbance patterns. Sassy McSmartyPants> Blogging Toward Facism 04.04.2005 - 00:30 I love the fact that right wingers whack-os monitor this site. Arguing about whether 6-8 trees per acre looks, feels or tastes like a 'clearcut'. Extolling the virtues of Lars Larson. Debating the virtues of logging the more of the last native stands of trees in America. Its great. I don't even have to troll the right wing sites propertyrights.org or klamathbasincrisis.org for a look to the dark side. Right Wing Whack Job> crazy for coco-puffs 04.04.2005 - 10:56 Yes, anyone who does not share your norrow view of the world is a right-wing wack job. Fuck Lars Larson. Sassy McSmartyPants> do tell 04.04.2005 - 17:14 What is my 'narrow' view of the world? Special Sauce Mcdonald's Happy Meal> maybe 04.04.2005 - 17:53 it would be best if you explained your view of the world, rather than arrogantly attacking the motives of anyone who supports forest management lars larson is ALMOST as vain as you are g. love and the special sauce> Future of the Biscuit? Part1 05.04.2005 - 07:22 Bitterroot landscape clearly shows the mistakes of the past Douglas Fir engraver beetle damage Future of the Biscuit? Maybe yes and maybe no. These are pictures of the Bitteroot, 2 years after the fires raged. The first picture is a prime example of what NOT to do. The second picture is a close-up of a hillside in that same area, showing the extent of the mortality for the Douglas fir engraver beetle. Clearcutting steep hillsides, lacing them with "jammer" roads, not harvesting dead and dying trees from the fires and not thinning overstocked stands result in what you see in both these pictures. It may or may not happen to the Biscuit but, the Bitterroot is quite similar to conditions within the Biscuit. The Bitterroot is EXTREMELY ripe for a re-burn and we can directly thank the "preservationists" for saving this perfect bark beetle habitat. Additionally, this picture was taken in the early summer and doesn't reflect all of the mortality that occurred last summer. All I'm saying is that you all should look at the "big picture" and use science over rhetoric. Is this the legacy you want to leave for future generations? Mtn_high> e-mail:: lhfotoware@hotmail.com Future of the Biscuit Part 2 05.04.2005 - 07:36 Dead old growth in Camp Seely, near Crestline, CA This is a picture of the an organizational camp in the San Bernardino National Forest. If you look closely, you'll see that EVERY pine in the picture is dead and that all of them were along a perennial stream but still couldn't fight off the bark beetles. "Preservationists" are also responsible for allowing this to happen through ignorance of science and elimination of actice management, including thinning, for more than 15 years. Again, is this the legacy you want to leave for future generations? Mtn_high> e-mail:: lhfotoware@hotmail.com Future of the Biscuit Part 3 05.04.2005 - 08:42 North Lake Tahoe's bark beetle heaven in the early 90's Massive fuels buildup near Lake Tahoe-2000 Lastly, this first picture isn't really associated with burn salvage but shows what "preservationism" will do when applied to unnatural ecosystems. This could easily happen to green areas within and adjacent to the Biscuit. This is a picture of North Lake Tahoe back in the early 90's during a merely moderate drought, compared to historical data. First, a little history. Significant portions of the Lake Tahoe Basin were logged heavily during the days of the Comstock Lode, with "high-grading" a chosen method in the mixed conifer stands. Other predominantly pine stands were clearcut right down to the lakeshore. This picture shows that red and white fir grew back in the mixed conifer areas, blocking out the drought and fire resistant pines. Overstocking made water very scarce and the forest's natural defense against bark beetles was eliminated, allowing them to overwhelm even the healthiest of trees. Not many of the trees in this picture were harvested because of "preservationist" backlash and ignorance. Today, many of those trees are still there, lying in wait for the next wildfire to catastrophically burn and cause incredible damage to this irreplaceable and precious ecosystem. The second picture shows what kinds of conditions exist beneath the reamaining canopy. How would YOU deal with this situation? There IS no easy answer, even if you apply sound science to this problem. There is ZERO chance of controlling a prescribed burn in an area like this. Selective harvesting is a problem becaue the remaining stand would probably suffer too much damage (white fir is quite susceptible to logging damage). Clearcutting would take care of the fuels problem but, that really isn't too much of an option because of public sentiment and Forest Service policy. Patchy "regeneration cuts" might be the way to go, to avoid future catastrophic fire but, that is what caused these conditions in the past. Even sound science cannot supply a clear solution sometimes but, it's the most reliable source of information to deal with current situations. The Forest Service has armies of "ologists" who are quite ethical, dedicated and protective of their "domains". Why not let them present their science and we can go from there? In closing, I'd like to say that the bickering and blathering I see over the Biscuit is not the right thing to do. If you can't see the science behind the decisions, then trust the Forest Service professionals, while ALWAYS watching for the occasional corruption that is still within the Agency. The Biscuit Fire Salvage Plan is like no other plan in Forest Service history and it looks like you're going to have to live with it, in my educated and experienced eyes. Goodbye, as I will not be posting anymore, and may the forest be with you! Mtn_high> e-mail:: lhfotoware@hotmail.com Correction 05.04.2005 - 09:05 Correction: The pictures of the Bitteroot are from last year and that would be 4 years after the fires. Sorry for the mistake. I'll be "lurking" Mtn_high> e-mail:: lhfotoware@hotmail.com Active "Management" 05.04.2005 - 16:49 Yeah, active management is the solution to All the Worlds Problems. Before the Forest Service started clearcutting, there were no forests you dumb hippies. The attached photo shows the Joy of Clearcutting at Biscuit. Its from teh roadside haz scam logging up by Indi. Doesn't it look healthy? Note the figure in the upper left for scale. Greed has nothing to do with it. Nothing at all. "Salvage logging serves no ecological purpose." Medford BLM, Timbered Rock FEIS. Snag Lover> science is god again (or still)? 27.04.2005 - 11:59 i will agree with and commend those who are exposing the viciousness and animosity in this thread. we all obviously have our opinions (educated or not) on the issue, but is throwing mud (more like feces) at each other solving anything? really? my other objection is the seeming myth that whatever 'science' says is the gospel. while i appreciate and live to a large degree in a scientifically sound world, where experimentation and trial and error are valued, it is not the absolute truth all of the time. dont forget to be critical of any biases or possible errors in the realm of science and experimentation. balance, it seems, is what is lacking. its either all science, or all religion... all money, or all conservation. liberal or right-wing. why continue to perpetuate such a dichotomous worldview? jesus christ... think what we could accomplish by just trying to get along! peace and love you necon nazis and hippie-pinko-commies and hate mongers and idealists and realists (in other words, stop the goddamn fighting. or you'll all go to bed without dinner). tim> e-mail:: tim@ashlandcreek.net