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--> --> A man calling himself `Owl' peers down from his platform this morning high in a fir tree in the Umpqua Bank parking lot along First Street. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA Protester up a tree By Sean Wolfe Ashland Daily Tidings In a move to bring the war in the woods within city limits, activists gathered locally as part of a statewide protest aimed at raising awareness and increasing pressure on Allyn Ford, who chairs Umpqua Bank's board of directors, and is the sole owner of Roseburg Forest Products. Roseburg Forest Products is the contract holder on so-called "replacement volume" sales which many activists and environmental groups contend permits old-growth timber harvests. The statewide protest was staged today by a collection of activists, who assembled at Umpqua Bank branches in Portland, Eugene, Grants Pass, Cottage Grove, Medford and Ashland. At the Ashland branch, members of Mazama Forest Defense staged a tree-sit in a large fir adjacent to the bank's parking lot. Mazama has been active in opposing and hampering logging efforts at the Peak Timber Sale near Prospect, among others. The tree-sitter, who wore a mask concealing the lower half of his face, and would only communicate using sign language, identified himself as "Owl," and refused to be interviewed. But the tree-sitter was supported by a ground crew, consisting of Mazama members, Oxygen Collective workers, and a small crowd of protesters that included Elizabeth Crosson, outreach coordinator for the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. "We're here because Allyn Ford hasn't pulled out of the replacement volume program which trades old-growth for second-growth plantations on the coast," Crosson said. "We'd like Allyn to change his business practices, and get out of the old-growth logging business." Crosson was referring to the 1995 Rescission Act, also called the Salvage Rider, which was ordered by Congress to replace timber sales that had been canceled on Oregon's Coast Range, owing to the presence of an endangered seabird. Earlier this morning, the protester faced some difficulties in getting the bed sheet and bamboo sign reading "Stumpqua Bank Complicit in Forest Destruction," to unfurl properly. Activists made a bicycle run to a nearby hardware store for copper tubing, to better reinforce the banner. Tim Ream, a visiting activist from Portland, chuckled over the spectacle. "With what's been happening in the woods after so many years, forest defense is fully happening in Southern Oregon, and for the first time ever in the Rogue River National Forest," Ream said. Ford was unavailable for comment as he was away from his offices. Roseburg Forest Product's VP of human resources and official spokesman Hank Snow said his firm had nothing to do with Umpqua Bank, other than Ford's participation on the bank's board. "They should be protesting the logging, not the bank. I guess that's their choice," Snow said. Lt. Rich Walsh, of Ashland's Police Department, said he was aware of the protests, and that he was monitoring the situation. "As long as people are protesting civilly and peaceably, we won't cordon off an area for them. "They should remain on the public sidewalks, in accordance with their rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. We're keeping an eye on it, but we don't anticipate any trouble," Walsh said. 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