BLM to Slaughter Oregon'sLast Ancient Forests

Cascadia's Ecosystem Advocates, 30.10.2006 09:34

Thousands of acres of ancient forest in western Oregon are on the chopping block. As terrible as these existing timber sales are, if the BLM gets away with it's current plans of throwing out key provisions of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), for instance NWFP riparian reserves, this will be just the tip of the iceberg. These good ol boys and their Oregon timber baron masters must be stopped.

BLM Plans to Slaughter Oregon's Last Ancient Forests

The following two BLM timber sales are just a sample of upwards of 30 timber sale projects in the works.

South Myrtle Creek Regeneration Harvest

The Roseburg BLM is proposing to clearcut 585 acres of mature and old-growth forests, leaving as few as 6 trees per acre, in the South Myrtle Creek watershed between Roseburg and Canyonville.
This is a combination of two older sales that we stopped years ago: Class of '98 and the Upper South Myrtle Regeneration Harvest sales. Umpqua Watersheds stopped these sales because they harmed endangered salmon. Unfortunately, all salmon in the Umpqua Basin have recently lost all of their protections under the Endangered Species Act. As a result, these sales are now being re-offered.

There are at least eight pairs of northern spotted owls that use these forests for foraging. Logging will occur so close to some owl nests that the BLM thinks there could be an "incidental take" of five pairs of owls. "Incidental take" means these owls might indirectly die, not because their food source on 585 acres will be eliminated, but directly because of logging.

To add insult to injury the Roseburg, Coos Bay, Medford BLM have received a good ol boy sweet heart deal exempting them from surveying for and protecting the red tree vole, a Survey and Manage species under provisions of the Northwest Forest Plan. Only Coos and Douglas Counties and the Middle Fork Ranger District of Willamette have this exemption throughout all of Oregon.

THAT'S JUST THE TIP OF AN ICEBERG: THE BLM IS CURRENTLY WORKING TO EXEMPT THEMSELVES FROM even following key provisions of the Northwest Forest Plan. This new plan is called the Western Oregon Revision Plan or WOPR (like it's some sort of joke!)
In 1993 Federal Judge Dwyer stated that the Northwest Forest Plan barely passed legal muster in protecting the Northern spotted owl and all other species dependent on old growth and mature forests in the Northwest. Now they are claiming they can't even comply with that barely legal plan!

THE WESTSIDE TIMBER SALE TARGETS 3,374 ACRES
FOR LOGGING

The Westside timber sale calls for logging ancient forests in the Middle Cow Creek Watershed, a tributary of the South Umpqua River. Currently the Middle Cow Creek provides habitat for coho and steelhead as well as resident cutthroat and rainbow trout, while Spotted Owls and rare salamanders rely on the remaining ancient forests.

• Westside would log 3,374 acres (the equivalent of nearly 6 square miles) in 93 units in the Middle Cow Creek Watershed.

• 1,515 acres of the logging (equivalent to nearly three square miles) would occur in old-growth forests that would be logged via "regeneration" (clearcuts that leave only 6-8 trees per acre), all of which are Spotted Owl Suitable Habitat. After "regeneration" the stands would be converted into industrial fiber plantations.

• 1,019 acres of Spotted Owl Critical Habitat will be downgraded or removed. Critical Habitat Unit OR-32 is the Rogue-Umpqua Area of Concern which "provides an essential link in connecting the Western Cascades Province with southern portions of the Coast Ranges and the northern end of the Klamath Mountains Province." (USDA/USDI 2006 BA, App. B-18).

• Over 10 miles of new logging road would be punched into the Middle Fork Cow Creek watershed to access the proposed logging units.


BLM's low elevation old-growth forest, all of which are west of the Cascade crest, is critical to the survival of the northern spotted owl, salmon and other species endemic to the Pacific Northwest.

Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (Ashland/Grants Pass): 541.488.5789.
 http://www.kswild.org
Umpqua Watersheds (Roseburg): 541.672.7065.  http://www.umpqua-watersheds.org
Cascadia's Ecosystem Advocates (Eugene): 541.746.3371.  http://www.wildernessdefenders.net

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Stop public lands logging! 30.10.2006 - 12:48 Southern Oregon BLM is where some of the WORST logging of native forests in America is going on. BLM gets off the hook way too often. The BLM is as destructive and dishonest an agency as the Forest Service. The public must know that these supposed "stewards" of our public lands are merely the errand-boys of the corporate extraction industry. The public's trees, water and air are being sacrificed for private profits. The time has come to end public lands logging. Let's make it happen, people! Let's be relentless in our exposure of the public lands agency corruption which results in the eradication of our living life support system: our forests. Josh> Another BLM ancient forest in gallows 01.11.2006 - 09:20 The Kelsey Whiskey sale is the literally adjacent to the Wild Rogue, one the most important attractions for southern Oregon's tourism and sport fishing businesses. Attn RIVER GUIDES and SPORTSFISHING GUIDES: What are you gonna do when the BLM wants to sacrifice your job as a river guide or sportsfishing guide for the profits of the single owner's of Roseburg Lumber or DR Johnson or Swansan Superior or Rough & Ready? Kelsey Roadless Auction Nov. 16th KS Wild, 19.10.2006 10:44 The roadless, old-growth forests in the Kelsey Whisky timber sale that provide critical habitat for Northern spotted owls are up for auction on November 16th in the Grants Pass office of the Medford BLM. Upper East Unit 6-2 The Medford BLM has ignored comments from over 300 people asking for protection of the irreplaceable old-growth forests of the Zane Grey Roadless Area adjacent to the Wild and Scenic Rogue River and the Wild Rogue Wilderness Area and is offering the 10 million board foot Upper East timber sale. "Ignored" might not be the right word actually. After learning that 98% of the public comments on the DEIS asked for protection of the largest remaining forested roadless area administered by the BLM, the agency decided to INCREASE the amount of proposed old-growth regeneration logging in USFW Spotted Owl critical habitat in the FEIS. The BLM will sell off these old-growth forests to the highest bidder in Grants Pass on November 16th. eco advocate> Correction and addition 02.11.2006 - 10:16 Just wanted to add: regarding the good ol boy exemption to NOT survey for or protect the red tree vole, add Curry County that list. This is the west side of the Siskiyou National Forest adjacent to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. So, I suppose we should expect the timber sale projects to escalate over there soon too. Also, I mistated the name of the new timber baron friendly Forest Plan BLM is working on that will essentially gut key provisions and protections under the Northwest Forest Plan. This new planning process is called the Western Oregon Planning Revision or WOPR. I 'll be keeping you all updated as thing unfold. eco advocate> You go girl...... 07.11.2006 - 13:13 As usual the sensationalism is great...the facts are much less impressive. Such as an average unit size of 36 acres, not all of which are even clear-cuts. (most of the fires that burn in this area are greater than that)You also fail to mention the amount of timber reserves associated with the sales, I'm sure that is just an oversight on your part and you would be glad to update us further. How much of the road "construction" is actual new construction vs. reconstruction of old roads? What is the actual number of NSO nest sites in the sale areas? What about the NSO killed by the biologist's in the helicopter? (did they have to file for a take?)How many of the guides clients are connected with the timber industry? Questions, questions, questions.......how about some complete answers? Chane Sau> Old-growth-Irreplaceable? 08.11.2006 - 17:47 It is crazy how many people use the words old-growth and irreplaceable together. If you spend some time to get familiar with the Siskiyou’s at all, it is easy to come to the conclusion that there is no shortage of old-growth with in the Siskiyou NF. Just grab some old photos and go hiking. There is also tons of in-growth that is about 60 years old that is growing on sites that only had grass and brush in the 1930’s. It is well on its way to providing much of the late seral habitat that will be needed in the future. If you read the ten year review of the NWFP you will also see that there is more old-growth than there was 10 years ago. Norm Johnson, one of the main authors of the NWFP, recently gave a lecture where he stated that less old-growth has been cut under the current administration than any other since the N.F. started getting cut following WWII. Also if you read the EIS for the Kelsey-whiskey sale you will find that a small percent of the sale is regen harvest of older forest. Most of the sale is thinning around sugar pines and reducing stand densities and fuel loading. The sale is operating within the direction set by the NWFP which had the lead author of Jerry Franklin (aka: “the Godfather of Old-growth”) If you have a problem with the sale, maybe you should contact Jerry and ask him why he led the planning of option 9 which turned into the NWFP. I believe he made that decision based on criteria that President Clinton gave him and the other FEMAT scientists. mythbuster> yeah right 08.11.2006 - 18:09 "It is well on its way to providing much of the late seral habitat that will be needed in the future", according to Mybuster in the post above this. Regardless of how old the up and comers are, still, whacking around in fraglile places possessing any orginal old growth or healthy second growth ain't a real sharp idea. The connectedness of myriad lifeforms prohibits that, both morally and in most cases, legally. want to build trust and find somethin to do? Go brush out badly logged brushy areas on agency lands close to urban interface zones, but only where a significant majority of neighbors want thinned. There are one or two of those... I think anyone who wants to cut or altrer the forests to ANY degree ought to go live in them, year around, for a long time. worm buster> Connectedness? 08.11.2006 - 18:34 It is completely legal to go whacking around in fragile places possessing any original old-growth, I believe the area of concern in the above article is in Matrix allocation and that is land that is for multiple use including regen harvests. What connectedness are you talking about? Are you talking about the mythical connectedness that was there when the area was supposedly covered in old-growth, or are we talking about the dynamic Siskiyou area where the average natural stand is only 50 acres? If people do not want to cut old-growth that is fine, but lets do it for purely selfish value reasons rather than insinuating that old-growth is irreplaceable and using that for the reason why we shouldn’t cut it. Do some research and it is easy to come to the conclusion that old-growth is not lacking on the Siskiyou! mythbuster> Good Point 10.11.2006 - 16:48 Hey wormbuster brings up a good point about living in the forest. How about anyone who wants to keep the forest from having management take place go live in the forest year round. Most of the managers and working people spend 2000+ hrs out there each year. Somehow I doubt that the worm or the other parasites have spent that much in the last couple of years. The "reality" that the worm talks about and the connectedness, never existed prior to management and only because of management has it be able to exist to the extent that now is present. Look at the old photos and read old survey notes from the early 1900's there were large praries and as previously mentioned few stands of larger than 50 acres in the SNF. Oh by the way the idea of thinning and clearing brush around houses should be looked at. That scrub oak being mowed down is older than most of the old growth that is so irreplaceable. fisherman>