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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 29, 2004 Biscuit salvage blockade broken, protesters arrested Curry County Sheriff's Deputies and U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers arrested four protesters Wednesday for blocking a remote road leading to a Biscuit fire salvage sale on the west side of the Siskiyou National Forest. The environmental activists, including a woman perched on a platform hanging high over the road by a network of ropes, are opposed to the Indi salvage sale in the Gold Beach Ranger District. The site is about a dozen miles east of Agness. Containing 6.3 million board feet of timber on 153 acres, the sale is among three sales sold earlier this month as part of the agency's plan to harvest some 370 million board feet of timber killed by the 2002 half-million-acre fire. The activists had built several blockades along the road, including one made of hand-piled brush and debris, and hung a platform about 60 feet above the road, forest spokesman Tom Lavagnino said. After a backhoe was used to remove the blockades, deputies used a small crane with a 60-foot boom to reach the platform, Lavagnino said. "They got up close to it and safely lowered the platform," he said, noting the female protester had declined to willingly climb down from the platform. The four were charged with interfering with agricultural operations, a misdemeanor, he said. The Curry County Sheriff's Department declined to comment on the arrests late Wednesday afternoon. However, activists identified themselves by e-mail as members of the Wild Siskiyou Action Team. "They are absolutely non-violent," said group spokesman Stuart O'Neill. "They will not allow any damage to private property." The platform occupant, identified by activists as Kay Pittwald, said in a prepared statement released before the platform was removed that the salvage logging would harm the environment. "Logging is not restoration," she said. "The future of this remote area is healthy salmon, clean water and a thriving tourist economy." The Indi sale has been purchased by the East Fork Lumber Co. for $1.9 million. The sale was appraised at $681,066. No logging has started on the unit. Two more Biscuit fire salvage sales are scheduled to be offered for auction Friday. In a related development, environmentalists, the timber industry and the U.S. Forest Service agreed Monday to try to work out an agreement on salvage logging on the 2002 Biscuit fire under the guidance of a federal judge, according to The Associated Press. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan said he would consolidate three lawsuits by environmentalists and one by the timber industry over the Biscuit fire salvage and mediate settlement talks Aug. 5 and 6 in Medford, the AP reported. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams