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Timber sale finds bidders quite scarce Environmentalists protest cutting on endangered species' habitat By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Four of six timber sales auctioned Thursday by the Medford District Bureau of Land Management failed to attract bidders. BLM officials said a high volume of small diameter trees in the four unsold sales, combined with a falling timber market, kept potential buyers from making bids. "The economics of those sales are very marginal," said Ed Reilly, environmental coordinator for the BLM's Ashland Resource Area, speaking about the resource area's two timber sales that were left on the block. "They are mainly small diameter trees. � Some people who oppose commercial management say we're caving in to the timber industry. If things are not attractive to the timber industry, it's obvious to me we're not caving in to timber interests." The timber sales, totaling 32.5 million board feet, were intended to reduce wildfire risk, improve forest health and provide timber to local communities, according to BLM officials. The lack of bids was good news for about 40 protesters who gathered peacefully at the Medford office, but concerns remain about the two timber sales that found buyers. George Sexton, conservation director for the Ashland and Williams-based Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, said his group is most concerned about the Cotton Snake Timber Sale, which includes logging of older trees. "They're converting old growth forests to fiber plantations," he said. The 6.8 million board-foot Cotton Snake Timber Sale, located in the Glendale Resource Area and appraised at $596,045, sold for $1.15 million to Herbert Lumber, according to Jim Leffmann, the BLM's acting public affairs officer. The 3.7 million board feet South Trail Timber Sale in the Butte Falls Resource Area sold for its appraised value of $364,861 to Murphy Co., according to Leffmann. Sexton said citizens did wildlife surveys - usually required under the Northwest Forest Plan - for red tree voles in the Cotton Snake Timber Sale area in July and found 30 active nests. "Red tree voles are an old growth dependent species that live in the canopy of old growth Douglas fir. They eat Douglas fir needles. They are the main prey base for northern spotted owls," he said. The citizen surveyors provided Global Positioning System coordinates for the nests, which should be protected from logging by the creation of buffer zones, according to Sexton. Glendale Resource Area Field Manager Lynda Boody said the BLM has adequate known red tree vole sites in Douglas County, and surveys and buffers for the species are not necessary there. She said the Cotton Snake Timber Sale does include larger trees. The average tree diameter for all six sales was 13.6 inches, but the average tree diameter is 21.5 inches for the Cotton Snake sale, according to Leffmann and Boody. Boody said the sale is on matrix lands designated for timber harvest under the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. In addition to matrix lands, the plan set up a system of old growth and riparian reserves in an effort to protect rare species while providing timber to benefit communities and the economy. "At the BLM, our job is not easy," Boody said. "It's complicated to provide a commodity and to provide protection. We have done everything we can to provide both. We spent a lot of time on this sale." The 322 acre sale includes lower impact helicopter logging on 201 acres and thinning on 78 acres to reduce competition to fire resistant Ponderosa pine, she said. But the sale also includes 186 acres of "regeneration harvest," which can leave as few as six trees per acre, according to numbers provided by Boody. Although the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center opposed the Cotton Snake sale, the group had supported the Peavine Thin, which members said focused on thinning a young, previously logged stand in the Grants Pass Resource Area. Dave Reed, BLM district forester, said the agency may have to lower the prices of the unsold timber sales in order attract bidders and get fuels reduction work done. "The main drive right now for the Forest Service and BLM from the president is to do a lot of thinning from below to try to help reduce fire hazard and disease. Smaller timber takes a lot of work to get it out," he said. The timber sales were appraised about a month ago, and the market for lumber has continued to fall amid cheap Canadian exports, declining housing starts and an overabundance of small diameter material in the nation's forests, according to Reed and Reilly. Despite the disappointing results from this week's sales, the Medford District BLM is likely to hit its goal to sell 52 million board feet in fiscal year 2003 because of earlier sales this year, Reed said. The Northwest Forest Plan set the sustainable yield at 57 million board feet per year for the district. The 2003 goal was reduced because of wildfires, but will rise to 57 million board feet for the next fiscal year, beginning in October, according to Reed. The district sold 1.3 million board feet in fiscal year 2001 and 83.1 million board feet last year, he said. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | 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 -