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SUNNY Temp: 53 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 25, 2002 Fire fear used to justify logging? Environmentalists believe the government is using recent forest fires to increase the amount of timber sold By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune The Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management is taking advantage of the public’s fear of wildfires to fuel its commercial logging program, environmentalists charge. Related stories: � BLM's five timber sales � Sales: 30 million board feet on 4,000 acres "This year’s fires gave the BLM the opportunity to shift gears, to refocus its forest management in a way that would result in restoration of the ecosystems rather than further degradation," said Brenna Bell, an attorney and forest activist living in Williams. The district could have focused on thinning plantations or joined with rural communities to develop restoration projects, she said. Instead, it is using the fear of fire to push logging as usual while cutting many of the larger trees, she added. She was among those speaking Tuesday in Medford against five timber sales set to be auctioned Thursday at the district office. Opponents plan to stage a protest outside the auction. "It (the district) uses the rhetoric of fuels reduction to justify logging old and mature forest stands, build new roads, increase fire danger and satisfy the timber industry’s insatiable hunger for volume," she said. By her calculation, the five sales would clearcut 1,000 acres of mature timber, build 10 miles of new roads and increase fire hazards by littering the forest floor with logging debris. While the sales do include some legitimate fuels reduction work, they don’t justify the degradation caused by commercial logging, she said. "We are demanding that the Medford BLM break from its pattern of timber production and start focusing on forest management projects that the entire community can support," Bell said. "The Medford BLM has an opportunity to work with people who are very, very committed to improving forest health, to reducing fuels in the interface." Fellow Williams resident Amber Gayle stressed that rural residents aren’t opposed to all work in the woods. "A lot of us agreed there is a lot of second-growth stands in Williams that probably do need some thinning," she said. "We understand that some board feet of timber might need to come off." She noted the Applegate Valley was designated by the Northwest Forest Plan as an adaptive management area, meaning there were opportunities for management alternatives. But suggested alternatives from community members have been ignored, Gayle said, including a 28-page Scattered Apples alternative put together by Williams residents. "An immense amount of energy went into that document that was created by people who don’t get paid salaries to do these things," she said. "We really involved ourselves. We went to meetings. We wrote letters. That’s how it’s supposed to work in a democracy. "None of our comments were reflected in this decision," she said. "The decision was designed to extract board feet out of the Williams Valley. It was designed prior to President Bush coming out here and talking about fire hazard and forest health. The timber sale hasn’t been changed in response to any of our input." Retired Medford firefighter David Calahan, who has lived in the Applegate Valley for 30 years, also wonders if anyone is listening. "For the past three years, I’ve been very heavily involved in dealing with the BLM, along with a lot of other citizens out there, to hopefully get some changes in their first plan they came out with," he said, referring to a 1999 proposal. But the voices of area residents were largely ignored, said Calahan, the son of an Oregon logger. "I am not opposed to logging or thinning, either one," he said, later adding, "But the BLM has yet to really embrace the idea of taking the funds they were given and doing the thinning next to the homes, next to that rural interface." While he acknowledged there have been subtle changes since the Northwest Forest Plan was adopted nearly a decade ago and that many within the BLM do listen, they cannot act, he said. "It’s a very frustrating process to be a citizen, to put all this effort into something and realize, in the end, the goals of BLM are still identical to what they (originally) proposed," he said. "We have made no impact." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. 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