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The 364,000-acre Tillamook Forest in the northwest corner of Oregon - just 45 minutes from downtown Portland - boasts six of the healthiest runs of wild fall Chinook salmon in the lower 48.
Volunteers are out on the ground monitoring timber sales every month. They're testifying at public hearings about timber harvest plans and in one public comment period collected 1,700 postcards signed by folks supporting the Sierra Club's position. The 2003 operations plans are coming out, and the Department of Forestry is setting up specific timber sales to go to auction. Volunteers are now collecting information on these targeted forests so they can testify at public hearings. The bad news is that if these sales go through, 100-year-old trees will be logging, destroying habitat for species like the northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet and bald eagle. The Sierra Club's Oregon Chapter is mobilizing the public to take action.
Photo courtesy Dennis DuBois. |
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This is a "working forest" managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry, but there are still some 100-year-old trees still standing. Sierra Club activists in the area have weighted in on timber plans and voiced strong objections to thinning and clearcutting in the forest.
