2009 Timber Sales
The 2009 Annual Operation Plans is one of the worst ODF proposals ever considered for the Elliott. It includes:
* 7 proposed timber sales that clearcut 518 acres of habitat for spotted owls and marbled murrelets (MM);
* 7 alternate sales in case some of the proposed timber sales are found to have nesting murrelets. The ODF must do 2 years of MM surveys before clearcutting their nesting habitat. Most of the proposed sales have only 1 year of surveys so far.
* Out of the 7 proposed sales, 5 sales (392 acres) fragment continuous stands of old forests, in violation of the 1995 Habitat Conservation Plan. The ODF’s excuse is that they have run out of isolated forests or poor murrelet habitat to clearcut, so now they are going after the really good forests.
* 13 proposed and alternate sales clearcut in High Landslide Hazard Locations, and 11 of those are likely to deliver landslides into fishbearing streams.
* 7 sales line the beautiful and very special West Fork Millicoma River, with only a 100-foot buffer. Four of those sales are across the road from, or right next to, “Forest Park” campgrounds.
* Some of the sales clearcut the best hiding cover and calving habitat for Roosevelt Elk on the Elliott.
Over half of the Elliott contain never-before-logged mature forests, regrown from the 1868 forest fire, about 120 to 140 years old and big enough to provide quality habitat for owls and murrelets. There are occasional old growth trees and groves still scattered through the Elliott. Some 2009 proposed sales appear to clearcut rare old-growth groves, especially the Stulls Ridge (upper right) and Millicoma Cougar sales (right).
Old Growth:
In the last three years, the ODF promissed they would never again log the occasional old growth tree on the Elliott. If a tree born before 1830 (178 years old), it would be defined as old growth and marked for retention if found in a proposed clearcut. When we pointed out last year that the Panther Headwaters sale (pictured on left below) had potential old growth, the ODF failed to acknowledge our find or evaluate the trees for protection. On March 19 the ODF sold it to a local old-growth mill. We have no reason to believe any potential old-growth this year will be protected either.
2008 Timber Sales
The Elliott State Forest 2008 timber sales includes many clearcuts on High Landslide Hazard Locations (HLHL). Of the 11 sales proposed, at least 9 are located on High Landslide Hazard Locations.
As in other years, the acres harvested exceed the current Forest Plan Harvest Objectives, this year by 66 acres. “The primary reason for the shortfall was the discovery of a large number of stands occupied by murrelets”, says the ODF. But the ODF is trying to meet targets established under the assumption there was an HCP for marbled murrelets. There has not been an HCP for murrelets since 2001, so of course the murrelet surveys find murrelets. There is no shortfall. The annual clearcut acres not not "take" murrelets, as the Endangered Species Act requires.
Cumulative watershed effects were not considered. Timber sales are being planned close to, or adjacent to, recent clearcuts, resulting in large forest openings -- entire watersheds that have large clearcut, will effect the salmon streams. The photo on the left is from the proposed Panther Headwaters sale and the photo on the right is from proposed Fishing Cougar sale. Both these sales would be clearcut! Download our comments for more information and pictures of terrible landslides in the Elliott.
2007 Timber Sales
2007 brings us plans for the Little Salander timber sale, continuing the slaughter of mature, old forests on the east side of the Forest. In the area of Little Salander, the ODF was supposed to protect the scenery from visitors recreating on Loon Lake. But the ODF has simply offered a usual clearcut, which will be plainly visible from the Lake. After all, the lake is plainly visible from the sale. In the picture, one can see the Little Salander sale (trees on the bottom and left of photo), and Loon Lake in the background. In 2007, the ODF continues to clearcut on high-hazard landside locations. Download our comments to see pictures of landslides that are a result of this logging.
2006 Timber Sales
The year 2006 brought us such sales as Fish Cougar Divide, and Bowl Bound Beaver (BBB). Bowl Bound Beaver is pictured on the left and right. Plans for this sale include clearcutting 70 acres in forests up to 124 years old. Bowl Bound Beaver also adjoins, is directly between, a Marbled Murrelet Management Area and a Habitat Conservation Area, thus cutting it fragmented the connection of these habitat areas. When this sale was clearcut in 2006, the ODF decided to build a new road, right through the Marbled Murrelet Reserve, with no public disclosure or consideration of the effects to the murrelet. The Bowl Bound Beaver clearcutting was a terrible loss for wildlife. Download our 2006 comments for more on this sale. Also, download our HCP late scoping comments, asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to stop this kind of abuse of Marbled Murrelet Management Areas in the future plan.
This sale was but in the late summer, 2006. A terrible new landslide came out of BBB, after it was clearcut, even before the trees were yarded away (not pictured). This deposited tons of fine sediment, killing salmon, in Beaver Creek, under the sale. Not even the 50' no-cut buffer could stop this devastating slide.
2005 Timber Sales
For the 2005 timber sale plan, ODF proposed to clearcut 653 acres, a 30% increase over past years. The ODF could have gotten some of their volume from thinning young plantations, as in the past. But this year, ODF decided that "thinning" was a waste of money, so they started to clearcut plantations as young as 35 years old. None of the required 400 acres of thinning was done.
The Elliott has a "habitat conservation plan" (HCP) that reserves small areas for the northern spotted owl. In 1998, ODF scientists found that the reserves were not put in the right place and important owl pairs were left unprotected. It recommended that the most valuable and productive owls, the Salander Creek pair, be voluntarily protected. However, last year, the ODF clearcut rare old-growth that the Salander Creek owl used (Lone Surprise sale), and this year they proposed for clearcutting 102 acres right in the home range (near the nest) of the Salander Creek owls in the Salander Top sale (picture on left). This was especially alarming because the owl population on the Elliott plummeted from about 45 owls in 1993 to only 20 in 1998. Last summer, a survey revealed that not one pair of owls on the Elliott produced young. In 2006, the Salander Top sale was clearcut (picture below at right).
The Elliott State Forest harbors endangered coho salmon, yet has some of the most landslide-prone soils in Oregon. Eleven out of the 12 sales proposed for 2005 had "high landslide hazard locations." A 1997 ODF study found that clearcutting doubles the chances of a landslide. But this year, the ODF found that on the Elliott, "clearcut harvesting increases summer flows" so "can be viewed as a benefit to fish and aquatic amphibians." Finding that clearcutting high landslide hazard slopes are good for endangered salmon was clearly bogus science.
2004 Timber Sales
The Fiscal Year 2004 timber sale list included some of the oldest places on the Elliott, converting the never before logged forests into new tree plantations. Five hundred acres of native, old trees up to 145 years old, 3 feet across and 200 feet tall were clearcut. When they finish shaving the hillsides clean, they will aerial spray pesticides to beat back the brush. At least three species of wildlife, endangered because they depend on older forest ecosystems, will be harmed: The coastal coho salmon, the marbled murrelet, and the northern spotted owl.
Coastal Coho Salmon: In 2004, all 12 proposed clearcuts were on "High Landslide Hazard Locations." All of the streams in the Elliott either support threatened coho salmon or are upstream from coho habitat.Marbled Murrelets: Some forests, where the marbled murrelets have been found to be nesting before, are set aside as Marbled Murrelet Management Areas (MMMA). But at least three of the 2004 sales (Cedar Glenn, Top Panther, and Joe Buck) were clearcut right up to the MMMA boundaries, encircling the poor birds with clearcutting, edge effects and herbicide spraying. This was a violation of the Elliott Forest Management Plan, which requires that "when stands are prioritized for harvest, stands that meet the following criteria would be scheduled first:... Stands farthest away from murrelet-occupied stands..."
Northern Spotted Owl : In February of 2002, the Salander Creek owl site was identified (in the 5-year HCP review) as one of the most productive owl sites on the Elliott State Forest, but was unprotected. The HCP, and a previous NSO study, recommended "preserving the most productive spotted owl territories and maintaining connectivity among spotted owl sites on ESF... may help stabilize the population and increase the number of productive owl pairs at ESF." In spite of these sensible recommendations, both the 2003 and the 2004 timber sales logged in and next to the Salander Creek Site. Cedar Glenn and Cedar Top were 2004 sales and Lone Surprise and Howell Ridge were 2003 sales that degraded the Salander Creek Site. Between the four sales over these two years, 240 acres of the very oldest and best owl nesting habitat were clearcut in and around the Salander Creek Owl Site. Lone Surprise also had a rare and vitally important residual old-growth forest component (pre-1868 fire). Cedar Glenn and Howell Ridge were virtually the oldest post-fire forests on the Elliott at 145 years old.
The Cedar Glenn Timber Sale: A Visual History
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Before, in spring 2003
After, in spring 2005
They promised this wouldn't happen to Cedar Glenn following logging.
Earlier this year, the 4200 Wedges Timber Sale was advertised for sale; it somehow escaped the public comments earlier in the year. The ODF decided to clearcut in one of the most protected basins for owls on the Elliott, a "long-rotation" basin that Owl HCP forbids clearcutting in. With no explanation, the 4200 Wedges Timber Sale clearcut within the heart of the Benson Creek Spotted Owl Site, completely ignoring not only the legal requirements to protect this site, but also the recommendations of the NSO study not to harvest in core areas. It also clearcut the exact site that the Murphy Creek female spotted owl was observed in during the 5-year Spotted Owl Study.
2003 Timber Sale Operations
- 459 acres of clearcutting and 500 thinning.
- 25.6 mmbf (23.7 from clearcutting), or about 5,120 truckloads
- 427 acres of future herbicide spraying on the clearcuts.
Lone Surprise Timber Sale
The Lone Surprise sale contained very rare old-growth, hundreds of years old, that survived a forest fire in 1868.
Above: A Slice out of a 500 year-old Western Hemlock treeThe Lone Surprise timber sale contained old-growth trees that the Salander Creek owl used in 1998. The ODF study found that the Salander Creek owl is the most valuable and productive owl on the entire Elliott State Forest and recommended no logging within its home range. When ODF disclosed the effects of the sale to the public for comments, they did not hint that it contained valuable pre-1868 fire old-growth, or that it was within the home range of the most productive owls on the forest.
Fish Headwaters Timber Sale
sold on July 16, 2003On July 16 the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) auctioned off the Fish Headwaters timber sale in the Elliott State Forest. Forty-three acres (2.6 mmbf) of natural regrowth after a 1868 fire were clearcut, herbicide sprayed, and converted into a young tree plantation. This was the first of five clearcuts planned for 2003, totaling 440 acres
In their pre-sale report, ODF admitted unstable soils could cause landslides into watersheds supporting endangered coho salmon. They said, "the sale is classified as a high risk area and may contain high risk sites."
The sale was within the Fish Creek watershed of the West Fork Millicoma River (Coos River Watershed). Two small streams in the sale that flow year-around into Fish Creek received only a small 50-foot buffer. Intermittent streams in the sale, flowing into Fish Creek, received no buffers and be logged right over.
This was in spite of clearcutting on one of the most unstable soil types in Oregon, the "Tyee Core Area." Most slopes in the sale are very steep, over 65%. An ODF geo-technical report documented:
"1. Presence of high landslide hazard locations (HLHF): yes
"2. Probability of hypothetical slope failure occurring on HLHL to enter channel: High"
This sale also clearcut nesting habitat for the northern spotted owl, even though the owl populations in the Elliott have seriously declined since their Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) allowed them to clearcut 440 acres of owl nesting habitat a year. The sale was also in habitat used by endangered marbled murrelets, but since ODF surveys didn't detect any murrelet use, it was still cut.
