| Logging Rider |
| Logging Rider |
The Yellow Creek BLM timber sale near Sutherlin, is where huge giants fell in a Late Successional Reserve due to the 1996 Logging Rider, deforesting 141 acres of 7 million board feet. Three units were logged in December '95 and into January '96. One more unit of old stately giant Douglas Firs was still uncut when we found it in February. See PHOTOS of unit 3 as it was the day before logging started, and as the logging progresses.
The Biological Assessment prepared for this sale said it is "Likely to Adversely Affect" the Northern Spotted Owl. It is also "Likely to Adversely Affect" anadromous salmonid habitat. None the less, it is being totally clearcut - not a leave tree - not an inch of a stream buffers on over 5000 feet of streams. Some of those streams within unit 4 are periennal. There will be over 6000 feet of new roads built, and at least 330 feet of those roads are through a riparian reserve.
The BLM tell us not to worry - their expercts (the same experts that brought us endangered fish) said that there were "No Significant Impacts". One of the things they will do to be good to the earth is to require the logger to do "Directional felling of timber away from reserve areas". Funny, when we went to unit 3, the huge trees had been felled directly into the running creek. (See a picture of giants lying right in the flowing creek.)
The following was presented by Jan Spencer at a press conference in Eugene on January 9.
On Friday morning, January 5, an incident occurred at Yellow Creek, ten miles east of Sutherlin. The location is a BLM administered old-growth forest being clearcut by Roseburg Lumber of Roseburg. Three loggers and four citizens concerned with forest preservation were involved.
Our first encounter with the loggers was a heated debate with no physical contact. Twenty minutes later, we were walking on the road in the direction of the loggers for a better view. They were standing by their pickup truck. They had not been engaged in tree cutting up to this time. As we approached, they left their truck and walked in our direction along the road. About thirty to forty yards from their truck, contact was made. With no apparent provocation, one of the loggers grabbed my beard and began an unfriendly, threatening vocal assault. I swept my arms upward. The logger yanked out part of my beard.
Nikki came from behind me with a video camera. The same logger went after Nikki and was intent on taking her camera. I intervened and Nikki handed off the camera to me. The logger pursued me. Lola tried to block the logger and was knocked to the ground by him. At this point, he tackled me to the ground and managed to wrestle the camera away. Nikki tried to retrieve her camera and was struck in the face by the logger. No one was seriously hurt.
The same logger took the camera to the Roseburg Lumber pickup truck. We returned to my truck. Five minutes later, the third logger drove the pickup truck to us with the camera, minus the film cartridge. Of the three, this one did not participate in any verbal or physical abuse. We are grateful he was a moderating influence.
But that incident is not the focus of our concern, even though we suffered physical assault and sustained threats and verbal abuse.
Why did we visit this place? Because this old-growth forest on public property is being destroyed for no good reason, and worse, to our own collective disadvantage. An important position of ours should be mentioned and emphasized. We do not want this to be regarded as "environmentalists vs. loggers." We are not "anti- logger." We see these people and their families as victims of a changing economy and a changing culture.
Resource extractive industries are in decline in many places. I lived in Texas for over twenty-five years and saw the oil industry's economic dominance fade. Our planet cannot sustain perpetual extraction and abuse of forests, oceans, and grasslands. Those who are prospering by the changes in market and economic trends have a responsibility to help those still dependent upon out-of-date forms of extraction and production.
Timber companies cashing in on Salvage Rider 318 sales are doing great disservice to their own communities by degrading the environment and by the fact that these sales are costing roughly one-half of comparable units sold earlier in 1995 under Option 9 prices.
An analysis of only eight sales in Douglas county compared to three more recent units reveals a 16 million dollar timber company windfall. Douglas county public schools are being shorted 4 million dollars, their share of logging revenues on those eight sales alone. Many dozens more salvage sales exist in Douglas county. Does Roseburg Lumber Company share these extra profits with their employees? BLM figures, easily available, verify these numbers.
Many of these locations in Douglas county were off limits for years because of their sensitive environmental assets. For example, Yellow Creek is identified as important to coho salmon and cutthroat trout habitat. Honeytree, which we will see in the video, was a late succession reserve. It was designated as a key watershed for coho salmon, cutthroat trout, and winter steelhead. BVD in the North Umpqua and 4 other sales will require 22 miles of new roads in a roadless area. BVD is 313 acres of clearcut at $385 per thousand board feet.
In an effort to reduce logging degradation, the National Marine Fisheries Service on September 5th, 1995, along with the Forest Service Screening and Review Team and the regional forest service biologist strongly urged significant modifications to original logging plans at Jack, Gage, Redlick, Zanita, and Honeytree timber sales. The warnings were ignored and clearcutting began by mid- November.
A well publicized study was revealed last week in Salem. Thirty- four Northwest economists presented Governor Kitzhaber with the results of the study that strongly suggests that healthy economies are identified with places of relatively healthy environments.
According to the study, "Environmental protections are not the source of widespread job losses or economic disruption." As the timber industry has passed its peak production in recent years, economic growth in the PNW has been two to three times the national average.
What makes the Northwest so attractive has been its mountains, rivers, oceans, and forests. The study notes, "degraded environments are associated with lower incomes and depressed economic conditions."
The study's final comments include, "The unique natural resources of the Pacific Northwest remain among its most important assets. The new jobs and income that are vital to the region's economic future will depend more on the protection of these assets than on their degradation."
We extend a hand to the loggers of Yellow Creek. We invite them to participate in a form of third-party mediation--a neutral moderator in a neutral location acceptable to those involved.
Our agenda: to make a sincere effort to find common ground so we may heal ourselves, so that we may heal Planet Earth.
We are not totally opposed to using trees as a resource when the use is sustainable and compatible with ecological affordability. At the same time, we would be wise to promote and develop alternative sources of fiber and to seriously reduce problems of improper resource usage and waste.
We are opposed to cutting old-growth forests. Only 4 percent of Oregon's ancient forests remain. This is ecological genocide! What we inflict on the planet we inflict on ourselves. Our own well- being is connected to the planet's well-being. We have a self- interest in clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment.
Sources
- Bureau of Land Management
- Economic Well-Being and Environmental Protection in the Pacific Northwest, 12/95.
- Power, Economics Department, University of Montana. Ed Whitelaw, Economics, University of Oregon