Cottage Grove Ranger District

Cottage Grove Ranger District is the northernmost district on the Umpqua National Forest. A large area of the district is in the drinking watershed for the town of Cottage Grove. Because of this, the public is very restricted in our use of the forest. But incredibly, until we stopped these sales, logging roads were still being proposed and built, in spite of the devastating effect of road failures on the city's water treatment plant.

The worst of the sales, detailed below, were stopped before they were logged. Now the Cottage Grove Ranger District has turned away from logging old-growth forests. Instead, they are proposing and implementing some good thinning projects to help restore watershed functions that were degraded by past clearcuts.

See What's Behind The Signs

• Layng Creek DEMO Timber Sale, withdrawn.
• Hardesty Mountain, an unprotected wilderness.
• Judie Timber Sale threatens Hardesty Wilderness

COTTAGE GROVE - Conservationists have challenged a federal timber sale planned in a municipal drinking water supply for the town of Cottage Grove, Oregon. The sale will place clearcuts in designated streamside reserves, violating President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan.

The Layng Creek timber sale, in the Cottage Grove District of the Umpqua National Forest, will cut approximately four million board feet of timber on approximately 160 acres in Cottage Grove's drinking watershed. The sale has been formally appealed by two conservation groups, the Oregon Natural Resources Council and Umpqua Watersheds, Inc.

The sale is billed as an "experiment" by the federal government, so federal forest managers can "learn" about how a forest grows back after a large commercial timber sale.

"This is about damaging drinking water supplies under the cover of pseudo-science," said Regna Merritt, Water Protection Advocate for the Oregon Natural Resources Council. "They are clear-cutting in designated streamside reserves that are there to protect water quality."

"These federal bureaucrats are claiming that they need to learn how a forest grows back after a large-scale commercial timber sale," said Merritt. "Aren't there enough clear-cuts already on our National Forests for them to observe?"

Signs say Keep Out to protect water quality, but logging trucks allowed in. The Layng Creek watershed is already considered sensitive by the Forest Service.

They have closed roads and posted signs for several years stating that ruts caused by motor vehicles will degrade the dirt roads, contribute to erosion and hurt drinking water quality. They even prohibit recreational swimming, camping, and driving on certain roads to protect water quality. However, these same roads will be open to logging trucks and heavy machinery for the timber sale.

"It is ridiculous to keep the public out of this area for all recreational swimming, camping and driving, but then allow clear-cutting and log trucks into this sensitive watershed," said Francis Eatherington of Umpqua Watersheds.

"The Forest Service's own documents state that this sale will violate their water and stream conservation strategy," said Eatherington. "Why can't the federal government protect people's drinking water, instead of continuing to fill it with silt from timber sales?"

For more information contact:
Regna Merritt, Oregon Natural Resources Council, (503) 283-6343 ext.214
Francis Eatherington, Umpqua Watersheds Inc., (541) 673-7649

9/23/97

The appeal (see previous story) filed by Umpqua Watersheds and ONRC, resulted in the withdrawal of the Layng Creek DEMO timber sale. The Forest Service says the sale will have additional analysis, and be reopened for public comments next May.

The main point of our appeal was that the UNF should not be conducting research to test what happens when you log a forest, especially within the municipal watershed of Cottage Grove. The research includes new road building, and clearcutting in riparian reserves within one mile of the city's intake valve.

Unfortunately, the withdrawal of the timber sale did not address these main points in the appeal. It was withdrawn because of another issue that our appeal brought up. The bidders received a sale notice that advertised an additional unit that was never included in the Environmental Analysis. It appeared to be a unit that the map legend said was "material source." Could this be a new rock pit? Of course, the impacts of developing a rock pit to build new logging roads must have some impact that should have been analyzed. We will get another chance to fight this one all over again next May.

In their 9/21/97 press release, the Umpqua National Forest said:

"Additional information about expanding a rock pit for gravel caused the agency to postpone awarding the sale. The agency plans to have the sale ready for auction next May.

The public will have the opportunity to comment on the sale during the planning process after the forest reworks the environmental analysis. During this time, the Forest will also provide additional information in the planning documents regarding points raised by an appeal of the sale....

... The 3.8 million board foot sale was auctioned on July 24, 1997, but not yet awarded to the highest bidder. On September 17th, the Forest Supervisor for the Umpqua National Forest withdrew the decision to implement the sale in order to expand an existing rock source. Withdrawing the decision also dismisses the appeal of the sale. 

Hardesty Mountain has a history of being in the cross-fire of Oregon's wilderness wars. A lowland ancient forest, this area has long been at the center of controversy, with citizens trying to save it and federal bureaucrats trying to cut it down.

Now a new controversy is brewing, as federal officials are punching a new timber sale into this unprotected wilderness.

The Area

The unprotected wilderness of Hardesty Mountain encompasses over 6,000 acres of roadless forest on the Willamette and Umpqua National Forests. Its ancient forests are home to elk, deer, owls, eagles, and cougars. And on the Umpqua side of the wilderness divide, it is the headwaters for Cottage Grove's drinking water supply. The water quality in this undisturbed forest is exceptional.

Hardesty Mountain is also an important recreational resource for the towns of Eugene, Springfield, Cottage Grove, and Oakridge. The area offers nearly 20 miles of hiking trails through ancient forests to meadows and rocky ledges on high ridges. One of the area's mountain peaks, Mt. June, offers views of the Cascades from Mount Jefferson to Mount Thielson, as well as views of the Coast Range and southern Willamette Valley.

The History

In the 1970's, a small group of Springfield and Eugene residents formed the Hardesty Mountain Study Group. This group worked with the Oregon Wilderness Coalition (now the Oregon Natural Resources Council) to protect the Hardesty Mountain area in a wilderness protection bill. The group published a hiking guide to the area and educated people about its wilderness values.

In 1984, the Oregon Wilderness Act was enacted, protecting numerous wilderness areas around the state. Unfortunately, the proposed Hardesty Mountain wilderness area was left out of the bill. In the final negotiations over the bill, Senator Hatfield offered Rep. Jim Weaver a choice to protect either Hardesty Mountain or the Waldo Lake area. Weaver chose the larger Waldo Lake area. (Source: The Wilderness Movement and the National Forests; 1980-84, a Forest Service History Series Document, FS-410, August 1988).

NEWS FLASH 1/12/98...

The Umpqua National Forest announced today that an agreement has been reached with the Judie timber sale purchaser to not log within the roadless area, trading timber from some place else (yet to be determined). This is good news. Thank you everybody for your phone calls. The Umpqua National Forest now needs to rehabilitate the 1/2 mile of new road that was built into the roadless area, obliterating a hiking trail. Hopefully, this new road will no longer be needed. We want our hiking trail back! However, in the Forest's press release, they said they want to try to log the Hardesty roadless area sometime in the future. Forest Supervisor Don Ostby said "we will at some future date be revisiting a proposal to harvest in this area." The press release said: "Ostby is clear that the substitute agreement simply defers the agency's intent to analyze harvest within the roadless area." They claim that the "Northwest Forest Plan directs us to consider harvesting matrix lands within roadless areas."

The Northwest Forest Plan does not mandate roadless area logging, but it does not protect our roadless areas either. Why is national legislation being proposed to protect roadless areas, but making our forests an exception? The Judie fiasco shows why we desperately need protections as much as the rest of the nation. Judie also shows why municipal watersheds need more protections than the Northwest Forest Plan offers.

Because Hardesty Mountain was left out of the 1984 Wilderness bill, it has been vulnerable to continued logging over the years. The Judie timber sale, on the Cottage Grove Ranger District of the Umpqua National Forest, would damage the integrity of over 1000 acres of the Hardesty Mountain area. The sale was to cut 7,386 million board feet - or 1,500 log trucks - of trees from the area, build 2.2 miles of new roads and reconstruct 6.8 miles of additional roads to log the unprotected wilderness area. What the new roads couldn't get to, helicopter logging would have clearcut from deeper within the roadless area.

Additionally, this sale would have loged within Cottage Grove's municipal drinking watershed. The logging was planned in the headwaters of Herman Creek, which flows into Laying Creek upstream from the drinking water intake valve for Cottage Grove. This watershed is critically important to the City of Cottage Grove's drinking water.

Lastly, there is the issue of recreation. The Umpqua Forest Plan states:

Hardesty was identified in RARE II [Roadless area Review and Evaluation]... The subsequent decision allocated the Umpqua NF portion to municipal use watershed... The primary use on the [Umpqua side] is as a portion of a municipal and domestic watershed. Because the watershed agreement provides for the limiting of recreational use and facilitates within and adjacent to the watershed, overnight camping and swimming are prohibited.

Limiting or prohibiting certain uses to protect drinking water is responsible. However, allowing a timber sale into this same area is extremely irresponsible. One of the new roads and logging units actually obliterates approximately one mile of recreation trail #1402. It is alarming that the Umpqua National Forest would limit recreational use and prohibit camping and swimming in this area, but allow a damaging timber road and logging unit to obliterate over 1 miles of a hiking trail.

It is obvious that Hardesty Mountain is threatened by continued logging. However, much more is at stake. The area provides drinking water to Cottage Grove, recreational opportunities for local communities, and ancient forest habitat for numerous forest species. All this could be lost because this area is unprotected. Activists see this sale as a wake up call to the entire community. A new call is going out to save Hardesty Mountain as wilderness for now and in the future.

Hardesty Update: 1/12/98

Click here to read about why roadless areas are so important. Logging had not yet started on the Judie timber sale in the unprotected wilderness of the Hardesty Mountain, southeast of Eugene. There were countless calls to the Umpqua National Forest to buy-back the Judie timber sale (541-672-6601). Peter DeFazio's office suggested a buy-back as a solution to this terrible sale, sold last December, just 8 days before the end of the Logging Rider.

Some Judie units chiped away at the boundary, some were deeper within, and some were even within an area where logging is only supposed to occur if there is a catastrophic event. In 1995, the Cottage Grove Ranger District experienced snow and wind. This is the "catastrophic event" that was the excuse to build 2.3 miles of new roads into the roadless area, and helicopter log the more remote units. Many of these units were going to be "clearcuts," according to UNF.

In 1981, the Hardesty Mountain Study Group published a booklet called "Hiking the Hardesty Wilderness." It says: "Hardesty Mountain is one small piece of what used to be one vast wilderness - the Oregon Cascades... Without Congressional action to designate Hardesty Mountain as Wilderness, roadbuilding and logging will continue until nothing wild remains.... Management of Hardesty Mountain for timber would also likely result in the loss of still more recreational trails." The book then details the "nearly 20 miles of varied trails" that Hardesty offers. "Its close proximity to the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area makes Hardesty a popular choice for a day or afternoon outing."

Their predictions have come true with the Judie timber sale. Even though the logging was postponed, about 1/2 mile of new road was bulldozed over the site of trail #1402. This road can be rehabilitated and returned to trail. No more roadbuilding, or logging of any of the units should be proposed again.

The Judie timber sale was the first threat to the Hardesty Wilderness since 'Hiking the Hardesty Wilderness' was written. The book says, "Timber harvest would be devastating to the area. Hardesty's soils are unstable, constantly moving downhill as a result of abundant rainfall and poor cohesion between the soil and bedrock. Removal of the protective forest cover and construction of roads would greatly accelerate the movement of unstable soils; significant amounts of soil would quickly erode away." This prediction is reinforced by the massive landslides last winter, in the logged areas beneath the roadless area. Where these landslides spilled over roads, they had to be bulldozed through by the timber company in order to start building the new roads into the Judie sale.

The 1981 book continues: "The same factors also affect drinking water quality; the southern part of the Hardesty Wilderness, is a portion of the Cottage Grove Municipal Watershed, whose water already fails to meet quality standards because of logging and road building." The Judie sale and new roads were within the municipal watershed. On the logging roads that would have been extended into the roadless area, signs read: "Road Closed to prevent Erosion. Road closed to all motorized equipment to prevent ruts and soil erosion. Open to all other travel." Signs on the roads up to the Hardesty recreational trails read: "Layng Creek Municipal Watershed. Please protect water quality. No Swimming, Camping. Thank you. City of Cottage Grove - US Forest Service". How can the Umpqua National Forest put up these signs and then build new roads and propose to clearcut behind them?

Just as the impact to our drinking water and recreation is serious, so to is the impact to the countless animals that call this undisturbed wilderness their home. We can stop this threat now. Please call the Umpqua National Forest (541-672-6601). Demand they propose no more sails in this area, and that they rehabilitate trail #1402. They should be protecting this forest, not destroying it. Call Congressman DeFazio's office (202-225-6416, Eugene: 541-465-6732), and thank him for his efforts, and encourage him to continue. Ask Senator Ron Wyden (202-224-5244, Eugene: 541-431-0229) to help protect the Hardesty Wilderness.

Click here to send an email to Umpqua National Forest supervisor, Jim Caplan.

On 10/2/97 Congressman Defazio wrote to a concerned citizen:

I have written to Don Ostby, the Supervisor of the Umpqua National Forest, to ask him to work with me to prevent any harm to the Hardesty Mt. roadless area. The difficulty we face is this: the Judie sale has been sold. It was sold just days before the salvage rider expired, which means that citizens are unable to appeal this sale. Since a contract has been signed, it will be necessary to either buy the sale back, or find less environmentally sensitive timber to trade for all or part of this sale.

I will do my best to save the most sensitive units of this sale. I am particularly concerned about the seven units that lie within or near the boundary of the roadless area. I am also trying to have the sale modified to stop any new road building. You need to be aware that there is very little funding in the Forest Service's budget for buy-backs. Either option -- a trade or buy-back -- will require cooperation from the timber purchaser.

I've just begun my efforts, so it is too early to tell whether there is much chance of success. However, rest assured that i'll give it my best effort.

Sincerely,
Peter DeFazio
Member of Congress

More Information: Judie Timber Sale

Cottage Grove Ranger District, Umpqua National Forest
Layng Creek Municipal Watershed for the City of Cottage Grove

The Judie timber sale is punching 2.3 miles of new roads into the Hardesty Mountain unprotected wilderness. Hardesty was inventoried under Rare II as a 6,245 acre roadless area between Oakridge and Cottage Grove, Oregon. 2,555 of those acres are on the Umpqua national forest (the rest in the Willamette NF). The Umpqua section is now home to the 400 acre area of the Judie timber sale.

In 1990, the Umpqua Forest Plan moved the roadless area boundary, shrinking it substantially, even though the area is still unroaded wilderness. (See 1990 Umpqua National Forest Plan FEIS at Appendix C-11). The sale area lies both within the old rare II boundary, and within the current roadless designation. But whatever artificial designation, the area remained roadless until now.

In spite of our requests for the Environmental Analysis (EA) last year, the Forest Service didn't send it to us until after the comment period was over. They explained they forgot. But the sale was sold December 23, 1996, just 8 days before the end of the Salvage Logging Rider, so no citizens appeals were allowed anyway.

The EA fail to include any maps or mention the word "roadless." In fact, it incorrectly stated that the Judie timber sale was within lands designated for timber production. In fact, the entire Judie timber sale is either deep within, or shrinking the edges of the roadless area. Additionally, the EA failed to analyze any effects on the municipal watershed. It did say, however, that the Judie timber sale will improve "opportunities to increase ecosystem health." The EA also assured us the timber sale will improve recreation opportunities because hikers will not have to walk such a difficult trail, and they will be able to see more of the country. "The existing trail is small and difficult to locate and accesses a very steep sidehill. The road will provide a less steep access and improve vista opportunities.. Recreation users will be viewing created openings that were previously enclosed."

Included in the Judie sale are:

• 2.2 miles of new permanent roads (+ .1 miles of "temporary" road)
• 7.0 miles of reconstructed roads
• .1 miles of semi-permanent roads

The timber company was offered $253,708.54 in Purchaser Credits to build the new roads. (Purchaser Credits means we trade public old-growth for new logging roads.) However, just before the timber could be sold, some of the logging roads going to the roadless area had massive failures and landslides directly into Layng Creek, just upstream from the intake valve for the city water. A revised sale notice then had to offer the timber companies $495,288.52 in Purchaser Credits to cover the cost of fixing the road failures. The roads had to be fixed before they could bulldoze the new roads into the roadless area.

The EA only analyzed the impacts of removing 6 mmbf, but the Umpqua National Forest actually sold 23% more, 7.386 mmbf. That's almost 1,500 logging trucks rolling over the new roads, hauling away centuries old forests from the municipal watershed.