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Timber harvests soar in 2002 By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Timber harvest levels on public lands bounced back during the past fiscal year after nearly grinding to a halt in 2001. The Medford District Bureau of Land Management cut 83.1 million board feet during fiscal year 2002, partially making up for the previous year when just 1.3 million board feet came out of the woods. Meanwhile, the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests harvested 20.9 million board feet, up from 4.8 million board feet in fiscal year 2001. A loaded log truck from a Greensprings timber site travels down Siskiyou Boulevard today. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA Logging slowed substantially in 2001 due in large part to environmental litigation over land management agencies needing clearances from the National Marine Fisheries Service for projects that could affect fish runs. "For 2002, we did get the clearances. We took the timber sales we were going to sell in 2001 and combined them with sales for 2002," said Dave Reed, district forester for the BLM. Timber sales also were able to proceed after the agencies completed required surveys and management plans for rare species, according to agency officials. Despite the recent jump in sales, Reed said the BLM is below harvest levels allowed by the Northwest Forest Plan. The 1994 plan, brokered by the Clinton administration, was meant to protect rare species while providing a sustainable level of timber harvest. Environmental litigation had brought public lands logging to a virtual standstill in the early 90s. The Northwest Forest Plan allows for an average 57 million board feet per year to come off the Medford District, and a combined volume of 50 million board feet per year to be cut on the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests. According to Reed, the Medford District has harvested a total of 345.2 million board feet since 1995 - or 76 percent of the level established by the Northwest Forest Plan. The percentage would have been higher, but for the first few years following adoption of the forest plan, the BLM was in a "ramping up" period and set harvest goals at lower than plan levels. Since 1995, the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests have cut 248.3 million board feet, said Nancy Rose, head of ecosystems department of the Forest Service. That amounts to 61 percent of the harvest level set under the forest plan, although the two forests got off to a faster start on logging after adoption of the plan than the Medford District BLM. "Just about every timber sale decision is appealed, and many are litigated," Rose said. Additionally, the two national forests sometimes don't receive the full budget appropriations needed for the timber program, she said. However, some believe the BLM's greater success at meeting its harvest goals is due to that agency placing a higher priority on logging. "We in the (Medford) District try to make sure we give the public the work for the funds they give us," Reed said. "We have a goal and we try to meet it. Their (the national forests') direction from the top is a little different. Our direction from our state office is to meet the goals of the Northwest Forest Plan and our resource management plan." Dave Hill, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association, also sees a difference between the two federal agencies. "In all honesty, the Forest Service is not as dedicated to maintaining their timber sale program as the BLM, at least in Southern Oregon," Hill said. Industry observers are uncertain what long-term changes, if any, will occur under the tenure of Forest Supervisor Scott Conroy, who took over as head of the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests in the fall. For the 2003 fiscal year, which began in October, the Medford District BLM and the two national forests are projecting that harvest volumes will fall below Northwest Forest Plan logging levels. The Medford District BLM has a timber harvest goal of 52 million board feet, below the forest plan level and past district goal of 57 million board feet. "With all the restrictions on our budget and litigation, we know we won't reach the Northwest Forest Plan goal of 57," Reed said. The Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests also are projecting shortfalls. Officials set the goal for the two forests at 22.3 million board feet for 2002, and again for 2003 - less than half the forest plan level. Both agencies are operating without official budgets after Congress passed a continuing resolution to allow agency work to continue through January. Hill said the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests, in particular, are cutting far less wood than they should. According to the Forest Service's own studies, the two forests are gaining 1,266 million board feet in tree growth each year, he said. "All this fiber is accumulating on public lands at a tremendous rate," Hill said. "They've had a 1 to 2 percent removal rate in the last couple of years. When you do get a fire, it burns much more hot because of the fuel build-up�. If they extracted 10 to 20 percent of annual growth, they could have a much healthier forest that would be more resistant to insects, disease and wildfires - and provide local jobs for the economy." Prior to the logging decline in the early 90s and subsequent Northwest Forest Plan, the U.S. Forest Service and BLM cut far greater numbers of trees. The Medford District BLM cut nearly 250 million board feet each year on average from the 1960s through the 80s, while harvests on the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests hovered around an average of nearly 400 million board feet per year during those decades, according to agency figures. Despite the reduction in logging since the Northwest Forest Plan was adopted and projected drops for 2003, others believe harvest levels still are too high. "The 52 million board feet (the BLM plans to cut) is so far from a sustainable number that they're not even in the ballpark," said George Sexton, campaign director for the Ashland and Williams-based Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center. Sexton said Medford District forests especially were overcut during the 70s and 80s, and the agency should focus on thinning tree plantation regrowth and leave old growth trees untouched. "It looks like Christmas tree farms out there on the landscape," he said. "The plantations are not good for wildlife and they're likely to burn hot in a wildfire." Sexton said the entire system of setting logging goals in millions of board feet is flawed. By focusing on volume, he said the agencies create incentive to go after old growth trees. "I would like the BLM to say they plan to thin x number of acres of plantations and provide x number of local jobs," Sexton said. "As long as volume is the target, they will go after the big trees." Timber Harvest Volume in Million Board Feet Medford Dist. BLM Rogue River & Siskiyou National Forests 1960s 239 407.9 1970s 274 399.3 1980s 213 378.7 (Logging plummets in early 90s; 1994 Northwest Forest Plan allows 57 mbf on the Medford District and a combined total of 50 mbf on the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests) 1995 33.4 44.3 1996 47.9 50.2 1997 53.1 53.1 1998 74.5 43.7 1999 21.9 26.1 2000 30 2.2 2001 1.3 4.8 2002 83.1 20.9 2003 52* 22.3* Projected LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -