OUT WITH THE OLD GROWTH

[paineinthearse]

A timber company will soon begin leveling large swaths of an vast old growth forest that was partially burned after Oregon's Illinois Valley fires in 2002, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. Forest Service had originally ordered the logging firm, Silver Creek Timber Co., to harvest only in areas designated for logging under the Northwest Forest Plan, which was designed to protect the northern spotted owl and other local fish and wildlife habitat. "Under pressure from the timber industry," however, the Forest Service has expanded its original plans to include roughly 20,000 acres of forest, much of which "comes from roadless areas, which the Bush administration hopes to open to timber harvest after changing a Clinton administration policy that had barred logging there." In addition to being visual marvels, old growth forests typically serve as reservoirs for rare species that cannot thrive or easily regenerate in younger forests.

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=453984

Loggers Going Into Oregon Old Growth Reserve Burned in 500,000-Acre Biscuit Fire

By JEFF BARNARD
The Associated Press
Jan. 29, 2005 -

A timber company plans to start logging next week in a burned area that had been reserved as old growth forest, setting up a confrontation with environmentalists who believe leaving the dead trees standing is better for fish, wildlife and the forest.
John West, president of Silver Creek Timber Co., said Friday he was just waiting for formal imposition of an appeals court order issued earlier this month that had cleared the way for logging some old growth reserve burned in the 500,000-acre Biscuit fire, which threatened 17,000 people in Oregon's Illinois Valley in 2002.

Under pressure from the timber industry, the Forest Service expanded its original plans to harvest only in areas designated for logging under the Northwest Forest Plan, which settled lawsuits over the northern spotted owl by dividing federal forest land into areas for logging, and fish and wildlife habitat. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction that had barred logging on two timber sales in an old growth reserve until a lawsuit brought by environmentalists is resolved.

Silver Creek Timber, based outside Grants Pass, bid $1.1 million for one sale totaling 14.5 million board feet. CLR Timber Holding Co. Inc., affiliated with South Coast Lumber in Brookings, bid $545,408 for 12.8 million board feet in the other old growth timber sale.
West said he plans to dispatch the first of up to 85 loggers to begin cutting what's known as the Fiddler sale once the 9th Circuit's order is filed, which could happen any day. "We really don't want to have a big fight over this," said West. "It's dead, burned timber. It's going to create jobs. We are hiring, hopefully, as many local people as we can. It will add to the truck and fuel business, be good for mills."

Don Smith of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, an environmental group based in Cave Junction, said his group was planning peaceful, lawful protests, and was not in touch with anyone planning to block logging by putting up barricades or camping out in trees. "We have accepted some level of logging, but when it comes to Fiddler, that's where we draw the line in the sand," said Smith. "That is due to its ecological value and its economic importance to the Illinois Valley."

more.......

[SHRED]

1. I worked in the forests in Oregon

Doing trail maintenance and fire fighting for a private co-op.

The timber industry hacks and loggers start fires on purpose for 2 reasons:
1. To get paid "fighting" the fire.
2. To get permission to log old growth/restricted areas that become
accessible by fire damage.

Crooks!

[classof56]

2. Well, Bush's "Healthy Forest Iniative" is also known as:

No Tree Left Behind. As an Oregonian, I despair at this decision, and the future of our incomparable unburned forests is in a word, grim. The timber companies will not rest until every old growth stand in the state is history, then they'll move on to second-and-third-growth stands. I'm trying to enjoy the forests while I can--soon we'll only have photos to remind us of the glory that once surrounded us.

Bush doesn't care about any living human being except for his big-money friends. Why do we think he'd care about other living things?

Words fail me.

Tired Old Cynic

[doubleplusgood]

3. Bush's "final solution" to the old-growth "problem"

n/t

[XemaSab]

4. This is horrible

I worked in the burned area after the fires, and it was a real eye-opener.

The areas that had previously been clearcut looked totally nuked. The old growth looked untouched.