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Bush Administration, Senator Smith Mislead Public to Promote Destructive Logging in Oregon
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| Fiddler Mountain November 2003: Native forests in the Biscuit Fire area survived even in areas that burned with high intensity during the July 27 & 28 fire storms. In the photo, areas of total conifer mortality (top of photo) taper into partial mortality to (in the foreground) a light under story burn. |
We've heard a lot of rhetoric from the Bush administration about their plans to "prevent" fires through logging, especially in the wild area of Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains known as the "Biscuit" timber sale. Despite an abundance of timber on the market, the Bush administration has consistently misrepresented the facts in order to claim that increased salvage logging is necessary for forest restoration and economic benefit.
However, a survey of the Biscuit timber sale and a range of timber sales in Oregon - based partially on information obtained from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiries - shows that this administration is rushing to open wild and ancient forests to commercial logging despite an abundance of timber on the market, a significant percentage of federal timber sales not drawing bids from the timber industry and huge impacts to clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities. Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) is now pushing a legislative rider that would only further damage Oregon's wild forests.
Unfortunately, incorrect information has been used to promote the massive Biscuit logging project. We hope this fact sheet will help correct the misleading rhetoric and paint a clear picture of what is happening in Oregon.
Bush Administration Ignores Facts on the Biscuit Timber Sale
In July the Bush administration announced its final decision to log vast wild roadless areas, old growth forest reserves and sensitive watersheds in southwestern Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains. The "Biscuit Fire Recovery Project" targets over 30 square miles of public lands for destructive logging, amounting to the biggest public lands timber sale in modern history.
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| Onion camp fen & Fiddler Unit 2: Area of high intensity burn (Summer 2004) |
The Bush administration and Senator Smith are using low quality information to promote a legislative rider as a "solution" for the Biscuit timber sale. Sen. Smith has also said he will attach his bill S. 2709 in the same rider to require "reforestation" in any National Forest area that has fires, wind storms or other "natural occurrences."
The only real goal of S. 2709 is to promote commercial logging in these areas. Conservationists have made good-faith efforts to find a solution to managing the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area to protect communities and restore the area. Despite receiving over 20,000 public comments opposing this extreme level of logging, the Bush administration is invoking an "economic emergency" as an excuse to log old growth reserves and salmon producing watersheds.
What is the economic cost of this ill-planned timber sale to taxpayers? After a Sierra Club FOIA request, the Forest Service said that taxpayers will spend at least $5.8 million to plan and administer the Biscuit timber sale in 2003 and 2004 alone.
Similar to the Salvage Logging Rider of 1995, the basis for this legislative approach is misguided and will only create more conflict. Despite Sen. Smith's claims that the 9th Circuit Appeals Court has stopped ALL the logging in the Biscuit fire area and that reforestation is being held up, the facts remain clear:
- Of 12 separate timber sales offered to date by the USFS as part of the Biscuit project, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has enjoined only 6 old growth sales (just 12 percent of the total logging) that were exempted from administrative appeals by the agency and litigated by citizens. (Associated Press 9/7/04).
- Of the 12 sales offered, 6 outside of designated old growth areas are not blocked by the court and 3 of those have never received bids from the industry. (Associated Press 7/17/04, Mail Tribune 9/9/04).
- At least 12 million board feet (3,000 log trucks) has been awarded to timber purchasers and is being logged and hauled away from the fire area through categorical exclusions from NEPA. (Forest Service records provided through FOIA to Oxygen Collective).
- Despite Sen. Smith's claims, reforestation is presently taking place in the area due to a plan approved prior to the timber sale. (Forest Service FEIS at I-7).
- The USFS decision would log a total of 370 million board feet (92,500 log trucks) of trees on 30 square miles of National Forest. Approximately 17 mmbf of trees were logged annually on the entire Siskiyou National Forest in the decade prior to the fire. (Forest Service FEIS at III-9).
- The agency's preferred alternative and Senator Smith's rider would salvage log 8,173 acres (12.77 miles) of inventoried roadless areas. (Forest Service IRA ROD R-4).
- 23,000 comments were received on the Biscuit logging FEIS, 95 percent opposed the agency's proposal. (Associated Press 5/13/04, TWS 2004 http://www.siskiyou.org/campaign/information/ comments_report.pdf).
- The conservation community supported several alternatives to the massive logging proposal that would have restored the burned area while providing jobs and making community protection a priority.
- The USFS has delayed the proposed logging in the Biscuit several times, most notably in response to a timber industry report calling for more logging. (Associated Press 10/22/03). The Biscuit fire was controlled on November 8, 2002, the USFS announced its plans to log the area on March 19, 2003, the draft EIS was not released until November 2003 and the final EIS until June 2004, and the final decision to log was not made until July 8, 2004; nearly two years from the date the fire was extinguished. (Forest Service FEIS and ROD 7/8/04).
Huge Salvage Timber Sale Threatens Oregon's Clean Water, Salmon and Wild Rivers
The Biscuit logging project alone will cause devastating impacts to streams and the clear water that salmon and steelhead depend upon.
Just how important are the wild watersheds of the Siskiyou for salmon populations?
- Spring and fall-run Chinook use approximately 120 miles of streams within the Biscuit fire area. These same Chinook salmon are classified as a sensitive species on the Siskiyou National Forest and are used as a management indicator by the Forest Service, as are Steelhead trout.
- Summer and winter-run steelhead use approximately 260 miles of streams in the Biscuit fire area. Coastal cutthroat trout are also classified as a management indicator and sensitive species on the Siskiyou National Forest, and use approximately 460 miles of streams within the Biscuit fire area.
- These fish species are highly susceptible to erosion problems caused by logging and roads.
Despite the importance of undamaged watersheds to these fish species, 89% of the proposed logging is concentrated in the watershed of the spectacular National Wild & Scenic Illinois River. Much of the logging will occur directly adjacent to or in relatively close proximity to the ¼ mile corridor on either side of the river. The Biscuit timber sale is also proposing to log 53% of the beautiful little Fall Creek Watershed which flows directly into the Scenic portion of the Illinois River Canyon. (Siskiyou Regional Education Project 2004). Does it make sense to log this watershed in which a 1992 Forest Service stream survey concluded is "a critical stretch of quality fish habitat for anadromous and resident species?"
Oregon's Timber Industry is Not Bidding on Available Sales
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| Upper Fiddler Creek in the foreground and Josephine Creek watershed in the middleground (Winter 2003). Area with both high and low intensity burn. |
In April 2004, the Sierra Club made a request to the US Forest Service and US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the FOIA for records of federal timber sales that sold and those that did not sell in Oregon. The response from the respective regional headquarters covers only timber sales offered to the private logging industry from January 1, 2002 up to April 23, 2004. The FOIA request was filed to help better understand the current market for federal trees in Oregon at a time when the Bush administration has offered numerous salvage timber sales in the state, including the infamous Biscuit timber sale.
According to the records provided to the Sierra Club:
- Between 12 and 20 percent of the timber sales offered to the logging industry in Oregon from 2002-2004 never received bids. Sierra Club's analysis of Forest Service data revealed that the two federal land management agencies operating timber sale programs offered over a billion board feet of trees from public lands. Twelve percent of the Forest Service volume offered received no bids and 21 percent of the BLM volume received no bids meaning that there was a surplus of approximately 160 million board feet (mmbf) available to the market that remained unconsumed in April 2004.
- Of the 685 mmbf offered by the Forest Service, 329,434,000 was salvage (38 percent) and 355,576,000 was green (52 percent). Ten percent of the USFS green volume went unbid as did 20 percent of the salvage. Salvage and green sales were not differentiated in the BLM records, however, 21 percent of the total volume offered by that agency went unbid and 70 percent of the BLM volume that did receive bids remained uncut in April of 2004, according to the records provided.
These results clearly paint the picture that an abundance of timber is available to the logging industry in the state of Oregon on federal lands. This fact argues against flooding the market with yet more subsidized timber volume. The data begs the question: With so much timber available to the industry in Oregon, why is the Bush Administration offering more public forests for sale, especially the 372 million board feet from the Biscuit fire area?
Logging Going Forward Across Oregon
While the Biscuit timber sale has received much scrutiny and attention, a huge amount of timber volume is scheduled to be logged in wild roadless and ancient forests across Oregon. Here is an example of the special places at risk due to the Bush administration's rush to log:
Southwest:
The Zane Grey Roadless Area in southwest Oregon covers more than 46,000 acres, and is the largest forested roadless area on BLM-managed lands in the United States. This area was named after the famous western writer and fisherman Zane Grey who had a cabin on the Illinois River. The Illinois River is renowned for its wild salmon and steelhead runs. Unfortunately, the BLM plans 530 acres of old-growth forest from this spectacular roadless watershed. The BLM is ignoring 97 percent of public comments that expressed opposition to logging.
- Zane Grey roadless area targeted for 23.4 million board feet.
East of the Cascades:
The Winema National Forest was the site of the Toolbox fire of 2002 and is now threatened by the logging of 10,214 acres - enough trees to fill 9,000 log trucks (36 mmbf). The Toolbox logging will cause significant erosion problems by constructing 11 miles of new roads and another 10.5 miles of reopened roads. This specifically affects Silver Creek and the West Fork of Silver Creek, which have been included on the list of impaired waters by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Using newly created rules under the "Healthy Forests Initiative" to exempt the logging from citizen appeal on economic emergency grounds, the Bush administration awarded the logging contract to Crown Pacific, a bankrupt timber company with plans to sell its remaining mills to multinational timber giant International Forest Products.
- Toolbox timber sale targets wild forests for 36 million board feet.
The Pacific Crest:
On the Mt. Hood National Forest outside of Portland, the Bush administration is proposing to clearcut diverse ancient forests near the crest of Cascade Mountains under the guise of fuel reduction and forest health. The Juncrock timber sale will log 560 acres of old growth using "even-aged management." This includes enough ancient giant trees to fill 4,000 log trucks (16mmbf).
- Juncrock timber sale targets old growth forests for 16 million board feet.
Old Growth Liquidation:
In July 2004, logging began at the Jigsaw timber sale in the Umpqua National Forest, including clearcutting on 150 acres and four miles of roadbuilding to access ancient trees. Portions of this sale are home to the northern spotted owl and other sensitive species. The Umpqua National Forest and the nearby Coos Bay and Roseburg BLM Districts are notorious promoters of old growth forest logging which threatens wild salmon runs and water quality. The Coos Bay BLM, for instance, is proposing as much as 600 acres of clearcutting at the East Fork Coquille timber sale, including many trees between 300 and 425 years old in the rare old growth forests of Oregon's Coast Range.
- Jigsaw timber sale targets ancient wild forests for 11 million board feet.
- East Fork Coquille timber sale targets rare old growth forests for 50 million board feet.
For Further Information:
Photos courtesy Barbara Ullian; used with permission.
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