06/22/05

Old Growth Protected on the Lemolo

Successful changes have been accomplished on the Lemolo Project in the Diamond Lake District of the Umpqua. The original project was twice the size with aggressive harvest of mountain hemlock forests (withdrawn), Lodgepole pine forests (withdrawn), harvest in recreational viewsheds (some withdrawn, some modified), harvest of old-growth (modified), and permanent roads into roadless areas (modified to temporary roads to be decommissioned). Not perfect . . . however, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) did work on this project in the Umpqua. Agreement was reached with the Forest Service to produce these results:

• Restoration of damaged areas moves forward.

• Old-growth forests, popular recreation sites, and

• Roadless areas are better protected than the original plan.

• The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) worked through agreement without undermining the law.

• Restoration of soil compaction areas from past logging and some campground improvements.

• Extra precautions will be used to protect especially large and ancient trees in unit 67 by locating temporary roads and cutting smaller trees away from the old-growth trees.

YOU and Umpqua Watersheds let the Forest Service know through hundreds of comments that their original logging, including clearcutting of irreplaceable oldgrowth forests and road building plans for this high-elevation forest, was not acceptable.

THANK YOU all for sending in your comments on the Lemolo Project. Your voice DID make a difference!

The toughest loss is that some of the smaller old-growth trees (under 32" diameter) will not be spared.

The merits gained for this area do outweigh further challenges. NEPA does work . . . and an agreement was reached.

05/17/05

The Final Environmental Impact statement was released in February 2005, and the Record of Decision was issued on March 1, 2005. As a result of our hard work along with many others - over 40 organizations and individuals submitted comments on the DEIS - there have been some important modifications made to Alternative 5, preferred by the Forest Service. The good news:

All lodgepole pine harvest units (42 - 64) have been dropped.

• 4 regeneration (clearcut) units were dropped, and 4 others were changed to partial cuts or commercial thinning.

• A helicopter landing and the associated road building to the top of Bunker Hill was dropped.

• 2 more small-group regeneration harvests of mountain hemlock were dropped.

• Old growth trees >30" in diameter will be saved.

These changes spared 135 acres from being logged, including high-elevation lodgepole pine stands that are difficult to reforest, and some magnificent old-growth firs and pines. To fully appreciate these changes, scroll down and review the past history of this project. The bad news:

•  3 of 6 Uninventoried Roadless Areas will have 2.9 miles of roads built in them.

• Some large (up to 30" diameter), very old trees will be cut and sold.

• Some logging will take place on fragile, easily compacted pumice soils, next to old plantations that have failed to grow normally due to past practices.

Umpqua Watersheds is administratively appealing the decision, requesting that the Forest Service not enter roadless areas.

12/04/03

The Forest Service invited YOU to comment on the Lemolo timber sale before December 1, 2003. A public meeting concerning this sale was held on Wednesday, October 22, 6:30 p.m. at the library in Roseburg.

The Forest Service is still proposing to log of 594 acres of high elevation native and old-growth forests, leaving only 4 to 12 trees per acre. Another 890 acres of native forests will be thinned to promote "pine health." To do this, the Forest Service needs to build over 7 miles of new roads in the upper North Umpqua watershed and clearcut two new helicopter landings.

These high-elevation Douglas fir forests, living dormant under heavy snows most of the year with a short growing season, are likely more than twice as old as trees the same size in the Coastal mountains. In fact, if the Lemolo timber sale is approved, it could log the oldest trees in any timber sale in the United States. It is also not sensible to try to convert the even higher elevation, slow growing, Mountain hemlock forests on fragile pumice soils, into fiber farms and tree plantations

But it's not acceptable to log old-growth forests . There are virtually no old-growth reserves here because the wildlife that depend on this ecosystem, like the lynx, wolverine and pine marten, are not protected from logging.

Unit 27	Unit 36
Unit 67

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05/16/02

Alternative No. 4 in the DEIS needs improvement! This time the Forest Service has added alternative four -- to not log old-growth. Unfortunately, their definition of old-growth was designed for lower elevation Douglas fir forests. While there is Douglas fir old-growth in the Lemolo sale, there are many more acres of high-elevation, mature forests of other ecotypes, such as mountain hemlock, Shasta red fir, and lodgepole pine. The rare and wild creatures living at the top of the Cascade mountain range, such as lynx, wolverine, and pine marten, have evolved in these mature and roadless forests. Simply offering an alternative that spares the most picturesque of the biggest Douglas fir isn't good enough. We want ALL of our ecosystems protected.

The preferred alternative (alternative two) has not significantly changed. The Forest Service will still clearcut ancient forests, including in roadless areas, threatening trees over 8 feet across in places like Bunker Hill, overlooking the Lemolo Lake Resort, and clearcut lodgepole pine ecosystems to within 300 feet of the beautiful and fragile Spring River, part of the headwaters of the Umpqua River.

Just say NO! to Alternative 2: 7.1 miles of new logging roads and 45+ miles of reconstructed road for 6,000 log-truck loads carrying 27.7 mbf of forests from 1,600 acres . . . proposed between Lemolo and Diamond Lakes. Roadless, native and old-growth forests would be converted into "managed plantations", tree farms to be continually mined by industry for wood fiber. Old-growth forests in Diamond Lake, the highest-use recreation district on the Umpqua National Forest, should be protected, not sold. Public and wildlife use are worth more than money. Public forests now provide for only 4% of the wood products we use. We can simply conserve that 4% instead of clearcutting it.

Failed Plantations New information available on the Lemolo sale is a six-page "Reforestation History Lemolo Planning Area." In a moment of remarkable candor, it shows dozens of failed plantations, growing only inches a year since they were clearcut in the 1960s through 1994. So far, attempts to intensively manage high elevation fragile ecosystems have failed miserably. The excuse is: "Past reforestation problems have been related to detrimental soil impacts caused by excessive compaction... heavy frost... hot broadcast burns..." and planting off-site tree species. But... they claim they don't do it that way anymore, and.... No, they are not going to fix their past mistakes before continuing with hundreds more acres of "seed tree" clearcuts. Below is a photo of an old clearcut on the edge of the OCRA/Mt. Thielsen Wilderness right next to the proposed Lemolo unit 20.

 

Forestry workers in Douglas County deserve better jobs than just scalping off beautiful mountains. For instance, the Umpqua National Forest has identified over $40 million in restoration needs on our forest.

You did it once. Your comments made the Forest Service reconsider their logging proposal. Please be ready to comment again when the new DEIS is released this summer. Ask them to broaden their definition of old-growth to include the mature and native forests of the high Cascade mountains. Ask them not to commercially log anything that's not already a tree-farm. Ask them to respect public input. They are fooling with our most beloved part of the forest.

Download Umpqua Watersheds' comments on the second DEIS submitted to the UNF in May 2002.
Download Umpqua Watersheds' first DEIS comments. These were submitted during the first comment period in 2001 and are still relevant to the preferred alternative 2.
Download the Lemolo EIS from the Umpqua NF website. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

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ancient BACKGROUND still relevant

11/09/01: Bunker Hill Logging is proposed on the entire hill seen to the right. This is the backdrop to the Lemolo Lake Resort. The prescription for this unit is thinning, maybe you won't notice.... but many old trees are endangered. If an old tree is within 30 feet of a Pine tree, it will be cut.

Bunker Hill is a beautiful backdrop to a high recreation area. It is unspoiled thus far by logging, and part of a 1,500 acre Roadless Area. However, the Lemolo timber sale will log almost the entire hillside because it is designated "matrix" under the Northwest Forest Plan. There are two bald eagle nests located on the hill and the sale units will completely surround them. The Forest Service admits the hillside is "visually sensitive," so they will not clearcut it, but insists that the priority management for Bunker Hill is timber production. The picture shows Bunker Hill in the background and Lemolo Lake in the foreground.

The Oregon Cascade Recreation Area

This timber sale will degrade the forests immediately adjacent to the Oregon Cascade Recreation Area, (OCRA). This sale is also adjacent to a RARE II roadless area attached to the Mt. Thielsen Wilderness. The Oregon Cascade Recreation Area (OCRA), designated in the 1984 wilderness bill, is bordered by Mt. Thielsen Wilderness to its east, and matrix land of the Umpqua National Forest to the west, including Lemolo Lake. It is a wild and roadless area, set aside for wildlife protection and recreational use. The OCRA has a logical western boundary -- except for two places:
1) an island not designated that is within the OCRA boundaries, and 2) Kelsay Point, a peninsula protruding into the OCRA boundary.

The island within the OCRA that was not designated as wilderness is proposed for logging in the Lemolo timber sale. The island is near the Windigo Pass road, a summer route through the OCRA. The small circle (about one square mile), on the edge of the pass road, was left out of the OCRA because there were some old clearcuts. Now the Umpqua National Forest proposes to continue with logging this little undesignated area in the middle of the OCRA.

Kelsay Point is a peninsula of non-designated wilderness that protrudes into the OCRA, with the Kelsay Valley Campground on the edge. Kelsay Point, with wilderness on three sides, is still totally wild except for a small old clearcut at the very top of the Point. This entire peninsula into the wilderness will be roaded and logged, most by clearcutting, by the Lemolo timber sale.

The integrity of the OCRA wilderness will be severely compromised. The area should instead be restored for the known Wolverine and Lynx populations that live close by.

Other Roadless Areas

Near the OCRA in the Diamond Lake Ranger District are some of the best roadless areas over 1,000 acres left in the Umpqua National Forest -- unprotected roadless areas that are now threatened with logging.

The road leading to the Kelsay Valley Trailhead will be logged. This area above the Kelsay Valley campground and trailhead, is a large, 2,000 acre roadless area separated from the OCRA by only one summer time road. The proposed timber sale will log about 25% of this roadless area and riddle the mountain side with new permanent roads and logging units. Kelsay Valley Forest Camp (below), as well as the campground at the trail head, border the logging units of the Lemolo timber sale.

Spring River, a tributary to the N. Umpqua River, is only one mile long and entirely spring fed.	This campground adjoins unit 25 of the Lemolo timber sale.

Another smaller roadless area is Kelsay Valley itself. Kelsay Valley is scattered with "Special Interest Areas" that the Forest Plan forbids logging. One of these special areas is Spring River (above), in the roadless portion of Kelsay Valley. Spring River is only one mile long, and is completely spring fed. The Lemolo timber sale will build new roads into the heart of this roadless forest and clearcut up to the very edge of these Special Interest areas. Another 1,000+ roadless area is near Elbow Butte in the lodgepole flats. The Lemolo sale will build about a mile of new permanent roads into here and clearcut right over camping areas at the trailhead into Pit Lake (below). The excuse for logging this area is to save the forests from being killed by bark beetles.

Pit Lake	North Umpqua River. Bunker Hill in background

The North Umpqua Trail

Some of the units on Bunker Hill are right next to the North Umpqua Trail, the most popular hiking trail on the forest. Over two miles of continuous trail are bordered by logging units. The Forest Service will likely leave a "beauty strip" next to the trail, but the real forest will be sold. This trail is already threatened by the near-by Warm Springs timber sale. We thought that was bad, but this is worse! Unfortunately, recreation and wildlife habitat are commodities that play second fiddle to the most important: public land logging.

North Umpqua Trail next to unit 3	Unit 65 adjoins this campground.

Recreation opportunities will be sacrificed

The lost recreational opportunities for us and our children can never be recovered. In some places, trails and campgrounds will be clearcut over or right next to. In other places, small "beauty strips" will replace the forests and wildlife we come here to enjoy.

Why is Diamond Lake the sacrificial logging zone
of the Umpqua Forest?

The Umpqua National Forest continues to make the Diamond Lake Ranger District the sacrificial logging ground of the Umpqua National Forest. Since the inception of the Northwest Forest Plan, Diamond Lake is the heaviest logged area on the entire Umpqua National Forest. In the 1980's, Diamond Lake Ranger District had to supply only about 26% of the annual harvest. Now it appears to be supplying well over 50% of what the Umpqua National Forest sells. Since it is high elevation with smaller trees, this 50% must come off of a much larger area of land.

Why is the Umpqua National Forest doing this to their most popular recreational area? Because there are still some trees left and the Forest Service feels the 'target harvest volume' takes priority over environmental and recreational uses. This fragile, high elevation ecosystem is home to rare animals we only recently thought were extinct from this area, such as the wolverine and lynx, that can live nowhere else. The pumice soils are easily compacted and forest recovery is more difficult than other areas on the UNF. In addition, Diamond Lake is where the majority of recreation by humans happens on the forest.

It's up to us to tell the Forest Service that our public lands must not be sacrificed to meet a logging "target." Our wild lands, wildlife, and quality of life must come before the relatively unimportant contribution of products from public forests.

Public forests only provide 4% of the wood products used in our daily lives. It makes much more sense to conserve 4% of our paper use than to desecrate the Diamond Lake Ranger District. Our public lands should not be logged, especially when they are located in a fragile ecosystem so important to both wildlife and human recreation.

Photo: this 12-year-old clearcut next to proposed Lemolo unit 20
is on the edge of the OCRA / Mt. Thielsen wilderness.
The few planted trees that survived are able to average only 6" growth a year. Many plantations in this high elevation climate have failed completely. Click on photo for a larger view.