Paw Timber Sale

5,000 log truck loads going down the road...

Diamond Lake Ranger District, Mt. Bailey Roadless Area.

Also See: Pictures of Bear Paw Protest; More before/after Paw Pictures

We Lost. Paw unit 27 inside Mt. Bailey Roadless Area, 1998. Clearcut June, 2000.

They Won. Paw unit 7 clearcut 1999. 650 years old when cut.

In the Spring of 2000, the last of the Paw timber sale units were laid on the ground. Unit 27 of Bear Paw, (upper left) furthermost into the Mt. Bailey roadless area, crumpled under the chainsaws of Boise Cascade. This brings to a close one of the most contentious and protested Umpqua National Forest timber sales. (See more before/after pictures.) Citizens were defeated in their numerous attempts to protect the Umpqua's largest roadless area in the Matrix. (See pictures of one of the protests.) Stumps with over 650 rings were found, (upper right) indicating that very ancient public forests have been destroyed. Old growth forests are not renewable because the Forest Service is converting them into permanent tree plantations, with primary benefits only to chainsaws.

Background

In 1992, The Forest Service prepared a draft plan and accepted public comments for logging inside the Umpqua's largest unprotected roadless area, the 18,000 acre Mt. Bailey Roadless Area . The only comments were from citizens pleading with them to not log and build roads in the roadless area. In "response to public comments" the 1995 final plan increased the proposed harvest by 8 mmbf - from 17 mmbf to 26 mmbf (5,000 log truck loads). It also increased the acres from 408 acres to 1209 acres - 135% increase with no chance of public appeals. The Paw timber sale was sold under the 1995 Salvage Logging Rider which suspended all environmental laws and all public appeals. The Forest Service even decided to build 1.6 miles of new permanent roads and 8 miles of new "temporary" roads within the roadless area.

In 1998 the Umpqua National Forest sold Paw in four parts called Paw Chopper, Bear Paw, Paw, and Paw Thin. While the forests of Mt. Bailey were being auctioned away in 1996, citizens protested outside the Umpqua National Forest supervisor's office in Roseburg. When some of the clearcutting inside the roadless area was slated to begin in 1998, citizens blocked the logging road. But Boise Cascade and the Forest Service worked together to clear all obstacles and succeeded in laying to waste these fragile high elevation forests.

Mt. Bailey

Mt. Bailey is separated by only two roads from Crater Lake National Park, and Mt. Thielsen Wilderness and the roadless Oregon Cascades Recreation Area (OCRA). Mt. Bailey Roadless Area also adjoins Diamond Lake, the largest recreation use area on the Umpqua. The Paw timber sales are just the beginning of the demise of Mt. Bailey. Under the weak protection of the Northwest Forest Plan, the area will eventually be converted from old-growth forests to tree farm plantations.

Species of wildlife that lived in the Paw sale that the Forest Service admitted were harmed were the American Marten, the Pileated Woodpecker (it's legal to kill up to 40% of the woodpeckers) the Red Tree Vole, as well as Elk. There are four pairs of Spotted Owls in the Paw area and one of the clearcuts came to within 1/4 mile of an owl nest. The area is also critically important to Eagles, Falcons, Lynx and Wolverines. In fact, in 1998 an extraordinary discovery was made of a Wolverine den, less than 10 miles away from the Paw timber sales. These sensitive animals need 400 square acres of undisturbed habitat to survive.

The Forest Service's own study, the watershed analysis, recommended not cutting the large Shasta Red Firs in the Paw sale because the economically important Masutaki Mushroom could be harmed. However, mushroom pickers tend to not look like loggers, and since the government has always given economic priority to the timber industry, this recommendation was ignored. When challenged on this, the UNF responded: "We don't have to follow the recommendations."

We cannot let the Forest Service sell away our pristine roadless areas. You can help. The Forest Service is now considering protecting roadless areas and asking you for your opinion. What the Forest Service considers "protection" means continued logging, even clearcutting, by use of cable systems and/or helicopters.

Citizens Protest at the Auction

10/30/96, Roseburg, Oregon: About 20 people attempted to witness and protest the bid opening of the second Paw sale today at the Umpqua National Forest, Supervisors Office, in Roseburg. The Umpqua National Forest locked their doors and refused to let the witnesses into the building. However, to assure us that everything was legal, the Forest Service brought the sealed bids into the parking lot - to have the bid opening in front of us.

We watched as the bidding directors opened the sealed bids, using their knees as their desk. One by one, they announced each bidder, biding the same minimum required bid. We watched, a bit perplexed at this parking lot show. Were they going to proceed with the oral bidding in the parking lot? Of course not - they moved inside with the bidders to proceed with the oral auction, and locked the doors.

There was a large federal police force present watching the peaceful demonstration. We waited outside for about an hour, holding signs showing our displeasure at the entire Paw timber sale. We wanted to witness our public forests being fragmented, now up to the highest of elevations, and infringing on the fragile, low productive soils that were never meant to be part of the paper factory.

Eventually, the Forest Service came outside and announced that Roseburg Forest Products has WON the this part of the auction (less than half of the total 25 mmbf) paying more than 5 million dollars for the privilege of being the first humans to convert these ecosystems into tree farms, to be managed forever for industry profits.

Afterwards, Cheryl Walters, information officer for the Umpqua National Forest, talked with the group of protesters. Some of the protesters asked Cheryl if she thinks of the animals that will die in the timber sales. Cheryl assured the protesters that the sale complied with all laws. Because the Forest Service insisted they would take no official comments on the 1996 Paw EIS, and because the Forest Service choose to rush this sale through under the protection of the Salvage Logging Rider, which prohibits citizen appeals, this parking lot discussion was the best we could get.

July 6, 1998, Diamond Lake: On July 6, 1998, tripods and other obstructions appeared on the new road built into the Mt. Bailey roadless area to facilitate the clearcutting of 117 acres in the Bear Paw timber sale. Logging of Paw Chopper timber sale was also briefly interrupted. Bear Paw and Paw Chopper timber sales are part of the Paw complex of timber sales. Bear Paw clearcuts 117 acres (3.5 mmbf) and builds 3 miles of new roads into the Mt. Bailey roadless area. Paw Chopper “thins” out the best trees from 700 acres (4 mmbf) in the roadless area and helicopter yards them to huge new helicopter landing pads. The protests stopped further road work and the start of logging in Bear Paw, and stopped continued logging in the nearby Paw Chopper timber sale for 11 days. Pictures of the protest can be seen here.

Bear Paw Defenders go to PAC

On July 14, 1998, by coincidence, a Province Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting was held at Diamond Lake Lodge. This is a committee of citizens and feds (a group of about 30 people), who are supposed to advise public land managers on how to “implement” the Northwest Forest Plan. Earth First! activists took advantage of the public comment period to speak directly to the group, which included the acting Umpqua National Forest supervisor, Bernie Rios.

Taking less than 15 minutes of the PAC’s meeting time, at least 6 Earth First! activists stood up and told the group why they were blockading the Bear Paw timber sale, only 10 miles away. Outside the windows of the conference room, committee members were able to look across Diamond Lake at Mt. Bailey and the surrounding unprotected roadless areas while the forest defenders spoke.

PAC members expressed surprise that such a large roadless area was in matrix, and right next to the highest recreation use area of the Umpqua, too. Following is one of the Earth First! comments presented to the PAC:

Good Morning. My name is Warcry. I came down from Bear Paw. Earthfirst activists are blockading roads leading into the Bear Paw Timber Sale. We are blockading with non-violent, civil disobedience, as is our constitutional right, because we don't want to see the land devastated.

The magnificent pristine old-growth forest that remains is being ripped apart. We are blockading because there is no protection for this wilderness. The Northwest Forest Plan is completely inadequate to protect roadless areas. It is beautiful, it is primal, exquisite, ancient, and older than this country. And it's going to be gone. It's going to be toilet paper or deck siding.

Teddy Roosevelt created the Forest Service to Protect and Steward America's lush beauty - from sea to shinning sea - not to preside over gradual deforestation, not to allow the timber industry such a gross level of access. The Forest Service has the potential to do its job instead, if it chooses, and protect the forest instead of facilitating its destruction.

We're blockading because the forest animals and ecosystems they need to live in, these last remaining wilderness areas - can't go to Washington and lobby congress like the timber industry can. The forest can't give campaign contributions. The life that is there cannot speak for itself. That's why we're there risking personal injury and arrest and serious charges.

Theoretically, public policy, decision making power lies with the people, the public, not with a few private and powerful special interests. That is what this country, not Pinochet's Chile or Nazi Germany or Saddam's Iraq - but America, this country is based on - a participatory public that cares and makes decisions. Right? But that's not happening because the public is not informed, or is misinformed about what we're losing - and losing forever. You cannot pretend, no matter what concepts or fancy language you use, that your managed, fragmented, tree farms are anything like the rich, dense and absolutely lovely old growth habitats you are destroying on a daily basis!

Fundamentally, nature doesn't exist just to serve you. It's not just a commodity. Nature has a right to exist, deserves to exist in its own right. We're not the only species God created. And I don't like the way the timber industry and the Forest Service tries to play God with "Forest Management". We need forest for general environmental health. You are ripping out the lungs of the planet. No one should have the right to do that!

The integrity of the land of this country is at stake. Only 15% of forest are on public lands anyway. Why is it being logged at all? That's outrageous! Intolerable! What are our children's grandchildren going to inherit?! Stop logging! We cannot afford to lose what tiny little bit remains. It's heartbreaking to see it disappear. Buy back the land. De-commission the roads. Please. Leave Mt. Bailey wild! Wild America, wilderness, beauty forever. Put the Earth FIRST!

Thank you.

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In 1992 the government asked us what we thought about a 17 mmbf sale in Mt. Bailey roadless area. We told them no. "Based on those public comments" Diamond Lake increased the sale to 26 mmbf, and refused any more comments. These trees were born long, long before Europeans claimed this land. What gives us the right to destroy them now, and destroy the entire ecosystem that depends on it for life? Why can't we share our earth more fairly? This sale is in one of the highest recreation areas of the Umpqua National Forest - between Diamond Lake Resort and Clearwater Falls. Most foreign tourists traveling on highway 138 won't see the devastating clearcuts - but local hunters, hikers and wildlife will.