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WEDNESDAY December 3, 2003 - Subscribe - Contact Us Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels 'Cookie' stirs support in D.C. By AMBER FOSSEN Ashland Daily Tidings Referred to as a slab, a cookie, a slice or even just a stump, one hunk of wood is making an environmental statement. Evironmental activist Dot Fischer-Smith of Ashland kneels in front of a slab of old growth Douglas Fir that is currently on display in Washington, D.C., as a protest to President Bush's forest plan. AP Local residents Joseph Vaile and Derek Volkart are in Washington, D.C., accompanied by a 6-foot-wide slice of a 440-year-old Douglas fir tree. The unusual companion, hauled across the United States by both former U.S. Bureau of Land Management employees, is being used to protest President Bush's Healthy Forests Initiative and a related bill for thinning fire-prone forests crafted by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. The route traveled by Vaile and Volkart - on vacation from two forest advocacy groups where they work - over the past week and a half included Montana, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia, and they often let the large wooden slab "speak" for itself. "Everybody is completely appalled that the government is allowing for the cutting of a tree that size," Vaile said of the spectator response in a telephone interview with the Tidings. Volkart added, "The overwhelming majority of people are shocked that large, old growth trees are still being logged." The slab came from a 200-foot fir felled by loggers who bought rights to the Mr. Wilson BLM timber sale. On May 27, activists sawed a slice from the remaining stump and smuggled it from the forest. Since then, the slab has participated in Ashland's July 4 parade, met a congressman and even seen the president during his brief trip to Oregon last month. Vaile and Volkart picked up the slab in Eugene last week for their cross-country tour. The slab is now being displayed near the Robert Taft Memorial in Washington, D.C. According to Vaile, the Bush administration is weakening environmental safeguards across the board while claiming to promote healthy forests. "We see the administration completely engaged in double-speak on forest policies," Vaile said. "Essentially there is a systematic dismantling of forest protection measures by this administration." The bill, which passed the House in May, would ease some environmental regulations by allowing loggers to thin brush and trees on as many as 20 million acres of federal lands. The sale of thinned trees would pay for some of the work in reducing fuels for forest fires. The proposal, expected to be voted on by the Senate next month, does not ban cutting old-growth trees and doesn't set aside any funds to reduce fire fuels near homes, according to Vaile. "Not one dime goes to protect homes and communities," he said. Vaile added he is in support of a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "That bill actually does allocate money toward thinning underbrush and fuels near communities," Vaile said. Opponents of the Mr. Wilson timber sale - which marks roughly 6.4 million-board-feet from 20 harvests throughout 213 acres of forest lands - say there are no safeguards for old growth trees. "On the Mr. Wilson logging timber sale, they were required to leave six to 10 trees per acre. They don't want to call that clear-cutting because clear-cutting is a dirty word," Volkart said, noting the term used is "regeneration harvest." "To us, it's a defacto clear-cutting. It's pretty asinine to have the BLM say they're interested in forest health and they're logging healthy land." BLM officials said the Mr. Wilson timber sale has nothing to do with the bill moving through Congress. "It is a timber sale under the Northwest Forest Plan and our Resource Management Plan," said Lynda Boody, BLM Glendale field manager. Boody also said that not all acres outlined in the Mr. Wilson timber sale are marked for regeneration harvests. Some areas will only be thinned. Environmental supporters say the stump is a symbol of the government's unfettered discretion to log old-growth trees. "No one in their right mind would say that logging 400- to 500-year-old trees in critical forest habitat is helpful," said George Sexton, conservation director for Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. "Every single unit of that sale was designated as critical habitat for the endangered spotted owl by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service." KS Wild has brought a lawsuit against the Mr. Wilson timber sale, according to Sexton. "No matter what the ailment, Dr. BLM's prescription is to take it down," he said. Six timber sales will be auctioned off Thursday Sept. 25, according to BLM officials. Those sales include some old growth timber, Boody said. The AP contributed to this story. 'Cookie' stirs support in D.C. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Road Cams