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July 14, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 7, 2004 Salvage protested By Paul Fattig For the Tidings Protesters from as far away as Eugene attended a demonstration Tuesday in Medford against the U.S. Forest Service's proposed Biscuit Fire salvage. Local and national environmental groups orchestrated the rally to oppose the harvesting of some 370 million board feet of fire-killed trees from the 2002 fire, which burned about a half million acres. A similar rally in Portland drew about 150 people. The event featured signs which read "There Are No Jobs On A Dead Planet" and "Support Healthy Forests - Remove Bush." One exhibit, dubbed the "Scales of Injustice," included five biscuits on one side being outweighed by 95 biscuits on the other. "What this symbolizes is that 23,000 citizens commented on the Biscuit timber proposal," Lesley Adams, spokeswoman for the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, told the crowd. "Of those, 95 percent of the public were opposed to this project, 5 percent were in support." Adams called the proposed salvage the largest timber sale on public land in the contiguous 48 states in modern history. Although the agency has reduced its original proposal from a little more than 500 million board feet, the salvage will still have a devastating environmental impact, she said. "They are still proposing to cut into roadless areas," she said. "They are still proposing to cut into old-growth reserves. They are still proposing to cut on steep slopes above salmon-bearing streams." She said the area is recognized worldwide for its unique ecology. Longtime environmental activist Lou Gold, a former college professor, told the crowd he became active during the Bald Mountain blockade in the northeastern section of the Siskiyou forest two decades ago. "Twenty-one years later, what I can say is the proposals of the Forest Service are much worse and much more extreme," he said. However, there are more people concerned about environmental issues today, he said. "There truly is a movement that now can be felt across the country and across the world," he said. Speaker Jasmine Minbashian, representing the Northwest Old-Growth Campaign, pointed to a slice of old-growth cut from a stump in the Willamette National forest. She noted that it had fire scars, indicating it had survived wildfires. "Unfortunately, it did not survive the Bush administration," she said. A "Biscuit Brigade" skit was performed at the end of the rally, followed by a march to Sen. Ron Wyden's local office to deliver post cards opposing the Forest Service plans. The biscuits from the "Scales of Injustice" were also delivered to his Medford office. Record release delayed Across the street from the rally, at the Siskiyou and Rogue River forest headquarters, officials said the records of decision for the Biscuit Fire salvage timber sales won't be released today. The U.S. Forest Service had previously announced otherwise. Citing the complexity of completing the documents, Tom Lavagnino, spokesman for the Biscuit fire salvage project, said they will be released soon. Once the records are signed and released by Scott Conroy, supervisor of the Siskiyou and Rogue River forests, the sales named in the decisions will be available for purchase. "There is lots of interest," Lavagnino said of potential bidders for the fire-killed timber. "We're doing them (sales) in a couple of phases." That will give a variety of timber firms an opportunity to vie for the timber, he said. The first 11 timber sales in the project have been granted an emergency exemption, meaning they will be available to log as soon as the unit is sold. However, the exemption does not prevent litigation, officials said. To decrease the chances that anticipated lawsuits from environmentalists will stop the logging this summer and fall, officials have divided the decisions into three parts. If they aren't stopped by lawsuits, about 100 million board feet could be harvested in the next few months, officials estimated. The selected alternative in the agency's final environmental impact statement for the project calls for salvaging 370 million board feet of fire-killed timber on about 19,400 acres. The proposal would provide wood to build 24,000 moderately sized homes, creating up to 6,900 jobs and generating up to $240 million in income, according to the agency. In addition to the salvage, the agency has also proposed to increase the 180,000-acre Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in the Siskiyou forest by 64,000 acres. However, any wilderness creation would require an act of Congress. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams