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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us August 23, 2005 Residents decry support for logging Lawmaker grilled by constituents during brief stop in Ashland By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Ashlanders concerned about U.S. Rep. Greg Walden’s continuing support of salvage logging approached the Oregon Republican before and after his meeting Monday at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Ara Johnson, a woman from Ashland who has been involved in the Biscuit salvage logging protests, caught Walden as he left OSF and headed to his car. “I’m concerned about the old growth,” she told him. “I would like to see forests return to their native state.” Walden was quick to respond. “Even if it is already dead,” he said. He told a story about a forest in Oregon where the living old growth was infected by bugs from burnt dead trees. “The result was the very old growth they were trying to protect was dying,” he said later. “That’s not the ecosystem nature intended.” Walden, who has 11 national forests in his district, is no stranger to salvage logging and natural resource issues. In fact, he said Monday that in the coming months he would be sponsoring new legislation to support salvage logging proposals. “It will be similar to the Healthy Forests Act,” he said. “It will allow for a little quicker management of post-fire damage. It troubles me that this stuff is sitting on the ground for three or four years. It needs to come out.” Walden said valuable timber is being allowed to decompose in the forests. “When we wait it loses some of its value,” he said, noting that profitable timber should not be sacrificed “because of a group of people who want no trees cut.” He said environmental protests, bugs spreading from dead trees to live ones and the increased danger of more fire are creating a situation that necessitates quicker response to post-fire salvage logging. He did say that his legislation could call for separate test plots to be managed differently so that the opposing forestry philosophies could be studied. “There isn’t enough research,” he said. “We could leave some with no management and manage some other areas. There are a lot of conflicting interests.” Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams