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44 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, January 19, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend December 12, 2003 Group pans BLM logging plan By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune When George Sexton compares the Kelsey-Whiskey timber sale with the Rogue River Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project, he wonders if Uncle Sam is a bit bipolar. "With its right hand, the Bureau of Land Management is saying it wants to cut small-diameter trees around communities, but the left hand is saying we’re going to go out and high-grade the biggest timber we have," said the conservation director for the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. He and other environmental activists want the timber sale to be more like the hazardous fuel reduction project they support. The latter will thin nearly 8,700 acres along the recreational section of the river between the confluence of the Applegate River downstream to the mouth of Grave Creek. On the 5,090 acres of BLM land included in the project, that will include removing brush and cutting trees up to 12 inches in diameter along the stretch a quarter of a mile wide on both sides of the river. Work is to begin in the fall. In what the BLM refers to as the Kelsey-Whiskey landscape management plan, several thousand acres would be logged or thinned in and around the 46,000-acre Zane Grey roadless area half a dozen miles downstream from Galice. Advertisement In a decision made late last month, the agency announced it would cut about 7 million board feet of timber in the Upper East Kelsey timber sale as the first part of that overall timber sale. The sale is expected to be sold this spring. A total of 12 million board feet of timber is expected to eventually be logged from Kelsey-Whiskey. "This is really frustrating," Sexton said. "With the fuel reduction project, they really focused on the small trees to reduce the threat of a catastrophic fire. They listened to the public comments. "And that’s the exact opposite of Kelsey-Whiskey," he added. But Karen Gillespie, spokeswoman for the BLM’s Medford District, disagreed. "The origins of the two are different," she explained. "One (hazardous fuel reduction project) is a pilot project that stems from the Healthy Forests Initiative." Officials note it was one of 10 such pilot projects proposed nationwide last year as an outgrowth of President Bush’s Healthy Forests Initiative. Bush announced the program during a visit to Jackson County in August 2002. The Kelsey-Whiskey has roots both in the Northwest Forest Plan and the district’s management plan, Gillespie said. Its principal goals are to improve forest health as well as provide timber for the local economy, she said. "They are similar in the sense they both have hazardous fuel reduction as well as watershed enhancement components," she said, adding that the agency believes both projects will benefit the area. But Sexton, noting that the Kelsey-Whiskey will include cutting old-growth trees, disagreed. "Logging ancient forests within one of the most intact, biologically important forests in the lower 48 is the equivalent of making toilet paper out of the Mona Lisa," he said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times