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BLM gets $4.8 million for timber It�s the Medford District�s first auction in almost two years By Paul Fattig The Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management sold almost 28 million board feet of timber last week in the first timber auction the district has held in nearly two years. The total appraised value of the 11 timber sales was $3.3 million. They sold for $4.8 million. The district�s annual allowable cut is 57 million board feet. In the federal fiscal year that ended Saturday, the Forest Service sold about 300,000 board feet of timber from the Rogue River National Forest and 600,000 in the Siskiyou National Forest. The annual harvest level on the Rogue River forest is 25 million board feet while the Siskiyou�s annual cut is 24 million. The timber sale slowdown is the result of the need to meet requirements ordered by federal courts following lawsuits by environmental groups, according to the agencies. "We�re far short of what we would normally do," said Tom Link, Siskiyou forest timber program manager. "We still haven�t completed the (wildlife) survey-and-manage requirements � that�s delayed the timber sales," he added, noting he expects much of that work to be completed late this year. "Some stuff will become available in the not-too-distant future," he said of timber sales. But Dave Reed, the BLM�s Medford District forester, doesn�t expect another sale on the district anytime soon. "It probably won�t be before the end of the (2001) fiscal year," which begins today, he said. "We still have a lot of surveys to do." Last week�s BLM timber sale was good news to David Hill, executive secretary of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association. "I hope it�s a continuing trend of more timber sales in the future," Hill said. But he expressed disappointment that the two national forests have not been offering timber authorized by the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. "They have a staff of 466 people combined on the two forests and a combined budget of $38 million, but I don�t see a lot of product for a staff that size," he said. "They certainly aren�t generating recreational dollars to cover the budget. Timber is the only product they can produce to meet the budget." Of the 11 BLM timber sales sold last week, four were small salvage sales open to bidders with no more than two dozen employees. "They were set up for the little guy who has been hanging on by his teeth to keep in business," Reed said. The four salvage sales were on the Dead Indian Plateau near Howard Prairie and Hyatt lakes. The seven large timber sales were all partial cuts that require the loggers to thin from below, Reed said. "We�re trying to fireproof the stands, trying to catch the diseased trees, trying to make things healthier," he said. The seven large sales are: Spencer Lomas � Spencer and Lomas creek drainages in the Applegate Valley, 2.3 million board feet (mmbf), appraised at $116,000, sold at $120,000. Indian Soda � just west of Howard Prairie Lake, 8.5 mmbf, appraised $1.1 million, sold $1.18 million. Poor Angora�s Folly � Glendale area, 3.5 mmbf, sold at appraised price of $316,740,. Stratton Hog , near Hog Creek landing on Rogue River, 3.5 mmbf, sold at appraised price of $221,000. Three Plus Three � Illinois Valley, 1.2 mmbf, appraised $189,000, sold for $237,000. Ginger Springs � Butte Falls area, 2.4 mmbf, appraised $518,000, sold $737,000. Double Salt � West Evans Creek drainage, 5.5 mmbf, appraised $677,000, sold for $1.5 million. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.