07/98
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 which cuts 26 million board feet of forests (5,000 logging trucks worth). 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.
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<-- The person in this tripod is blocking clearcutting in the Bear Paw sale. --> |
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Citizens protected the Mt. Bailey Roadless Area with a blockade from
July 6 to July 16.  |
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On July 16, 1998 the Forest Protectors held off the cherry pickers (left) and the Forest Service (right) for 11 hours. But eventually, the Forest Service asserted its right to protect the destruction of the tree below. Tree falling was complete in the spring of 2000. |
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