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--> --> Forest Service, tree sitter trade charges over copter operation By Paul Fattig For The Tidings PROSPECT - A tree sitter protesting a logging operation in the Rogue River National Forest says his life was endangered by a helicopter lifting logs at the remote site. But Forest Service officials refute the charge. There were no safety violations Thursday at the Peak timber sale high in the Prospect Ranger District about 10 miles west of the Crater Lake National Park boundary, they say. The tree sitter, identifying himself only as John, a member of the Mazama Forest Defenders, said the wash from the logging helicopter nearly knocked him off his perch. "They have come within about 10 feet of me," he said during a cell phone interview. "That helicopter has been blowing the trees around." The strong downdraft caused by the helicopter caused the trees to sway, he said. The tree sitter, who spends most of his time attached to a safety harness, is connected by rope to about 10 trees. He is one of at least two tree sitters in the sale who have been in the trees for more than a month. Another tree sitter named "Misty" also reported being endangered by the downdraft. But district ranger Joel King, who went to the site Thursday, disagreed that anyone was endangered. "I didn't see any unsafe operations," he said. "Everything I saw was being done in a safe manner." A safety officer watching the proceedings reported no danger to the tree sitters, he added. However, the tree sitter identified as John did move close to the operation via his web of ropes, King said. "He got as close to the logging operation as he could," he said. The tree sitters were asked to come down from the trees they have been occupying since mid-July but refused, he said. "I talked to John this afternoon," King said. "He was very respectful but he wouldn't come down." The Dillard-based Scott Timber Co., a subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products, purchased the nearly 4 million-board-foot sale, which is part of the Forest Service's replacement volume program. Scott has contracted with Columbia Helicopters to harvest the logs cut on the 600-acre tract. Approved by Congress in 1995, the replacement volume program exchanges coastal logging sales on federal forestland inhabited by the marbled murrelet, a threatened seabird, for sales of similar value and volume on national forests inland. The Mazama Forest Defenders want the replacement volume canceled. The activists, who unsuccessfully sued to halt the sale, say logging the area is a threat to spotted owls and other inland creatures. The planned logging on the Rogue River forest is being done with a lighter touch than was planned on the original sale on the Siuslaw National Forest in northwestern Oregon, officials said. For much of the replacement volume on the Rogue River forest, clear-cut and cable logging has been replaced with thinning and helicopter logging, they said. The area has been closed to the public. Paul Fattig is a reporter for the Mail Tribune in Medford and can be reached at 776-4496 or [email protected] Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing