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Group wants area protected from roads, logging By PAUL FATTIG APPLEGATE - David Calahan, the son of an Oregon logger, doesn't have a problem with what he describes as responsible logging. But the retired Medford firefighter and a group of Applegate Valley residents are dead set against a plan by the Bureau of Land Management to build some nine miles of roads into roadless areas immediately north of this hamlet. Officials say the roads are a necessary part of what they describe as a planned fire-reduction and forest-health project that includes logging. Calahan disagrees that the roads are needed. "I'm not anti-logger, but it's something that needs to be done responsibly," Calahan said. "If the BLM would back off the new roads and tackle it with helicopters, this whole thing would probably go away." He was referring to the group's effort to block road building with a proposal that would create an 11,200-acre area of critical environmental concern on the BLM forestland. Dubbed the Middle Applegate ACEC, the nomination includes 6,300 acres of BLM forestland on the east side of Humbug Creek and 4,900 acres of BLM forestland on the west side of the stream. The proposal was submitted to the BLM on Oct. 1. No decision has been made on the nomination. The proposed ACEC is in the same area as the agency's Ferris-Bugman project, which has been in the works for several years. The environmental assessment on that project is expected to be released soon. A 30-day comment period will begin upon its release. The project's proposed action includes precommercial thinning of 361 acres of conifers, noncommercial thinning of 1,537 acres of hardwood and brush and commercial thinning of 1,856 acres. An alternative would include no roads, reduction of precommercial thinning to 160 acres, thinning of 920 acres of hardwood and brush and commercial thinning of 1,195 acres of conifers. All told, the project includes about 19,500 acres, of which 10,850 are federal forestlands. "Our professional staff has analyzed the project's impact," said Bill Yocum, environmental planner and coordinator for the BLM's Ashland Resource Area. Officials concluded that the Ferris-Bugman project meets the guidelines established in an environmental impact statement completed in 1995 as well as an earlier completed resource management plan, both documents for the entire BLM's Medford District, he said. "Our goal is to improve forest health and provide some forest cut which will contribute to the local and regional economy," Yocum said. "There are always tradeoffs and impacts." The public review of the upcoming environmental assessment is part of the checks and balances built into the system, he said. The recent proposed ACEC is the third for the area in the past nine years, he noted. The other two were proposed by Calahan in 1992 and 1999. "Anyone can propose anything," Yocum said. "We have to assess it before making a decision." An ACEC nominated by Calahan in 1992 for 1,000 acres in the Long Gulch area - now part of the 6,300-acre parcel - came too late to be considered in the district resource management plan, officials said. "But it wasn't denied - that recommendation was shelved," said Mark Mousseaux, district botanist. "That 1,000 acres was considered viable." The objective of an ACEC designation is to protect and preserve special characteristics, including everything from significant cultural sites to areas of rare plants and wildlife, he said. "It could even be rare geologic features," he said, adding an interdisciplinary team will determine whether the nominated area is relevant and important. Meanwhile, Calahan said local residents are serious about creating the 11,200-acre ACEC. A broad base of local residents support the effort, he noted. "Most folks out here are OK with logging, especially with the way the BLM does it now," he said. That doesn't mean all residents share that opinion or that all BLM management projects are readily accepted, he stressed. "They still have a few policies that cause some concerns, but the roads are the universal objection," he said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.