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CLEAR Temp: 62 °F Wind: S at 6 mph Saturday, October 12, 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 24, 2002 Timber fallers start on Peak sale The Forest Service says a tree-sitting protest won’t disrupt the job near Prospect By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune PROSPECT — Timber fallers began cutting trees Monday morning on the Peak timber sale, where at least one tree sitter has been perched since mid-July. But the loggers are not working near the Mazama Forest Defenders who are opposed to the sale in the Prospect Ranger District of the Rogue River National Forest about 10 miles west of the Crater Lake National Park boundary. "Safety comes first, including for the people in the trees," stressed district ranger Joel King, adding that no work will be done that jeopardizes anyone in the vicinity. It’s unknown how many tree sitters are in the area, although a spokeswoman for the group said there were two platforms. One was erected within the last month, she said. The area has been closed to the public. "We’ve got a road closure in effect to help protect the demonstrators, fallers and government officials," King said. In April of this year, a tree sitter protesting a timber sale in the Mount Hood National Forest died after falling from a tree. Dillard-based Scott Timber Co., a subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products, purchased the nearly 4 million-board-foot sale. It is part of the Forest Service’s replacement volume program. Approved by Congress in 1995, the program exchanges coastal logging sales on federal forestland inhabited by the marbled murrelet, a threatened seabird, for sales of similar value and volume on national forests inland. But the Mazama Forest Defenders want the replacement volume canceled. The activists, who had unsuccessfully sued to halt the sale, say logging the area is a threat to spotted owls and other inland creatures. Sitting more than 100 feet above the ground, the tree sitters are being supplied by supporters on the ground. Tree sitters are in two trees, with the second one occupied in the last month, said Ashland resident Lesley Adams, spokeswoman for the group. "Our number one concern is for the safety of the tree sitters," Adams said. Environmental activist Brenna Bell, an attorney living in Williams, said that concern also goes for the forest. The agency has replaced second-growth plantation trees on the coast with mature trees in the Cascade Range, she said. "Those sales should have been replaced with like kinds of volumes," she said. "They didn’t do that." Logging in the area disrupts a wildlife corridor and a largely intact roadless area, she added. "The only purpose of this sale is to get the sale out," she said. "There are plenty of plantations (inland) that need thinning. We have asked the Forest Service over and over not to do this." The inland timber is generally smaller than the coastal timber, although they are roughly the same age, according to the agency. Trees tend to grow faster along the coast. In addition to the Peak sale, the replacement volume in the Rogue includes the nearly 9 million-board-foot Silver-Sturgis timber sale in the Applegate Ranger District. The two sales are part of an exchange for timber which had been slated to be cut on the Siuslaw National Forest. The planned logging on the Rogue River forest is being done with a lighter touch than the planned Siuslaw sales, officials said. For much of the replacement volume on the Rogue River forest, clearcut and cable logging has been replaced with thinning and helicopter logging, they said. Meanwhile, the tree sitters are quite far from where the timber fallers were working Monday, according to Ray Jones, the firm’s vice president of resources. He was aware of only one tree sitter. "We’re still a long way from him," he said. "We hope he will come down before we get to where he is. "We believe the Forest Service will make every effort to talk him into coming down from the tree," he added. In addition to stressing safety, the agency intends to enforce the laws of the land, King said. "If you are an American citizen, you have a right to freedom of speech," he said of the demonstrators, later adding, "We need to respect each other. "But this timber sale has been tested twice in court and found to be legal," he added. "There is a legitimate contract between the company and its government." Interfering with that contract is not legal, he said. King, who has visited with the tree sitters, said he harbors no animosity to them. "They are very nice people who have a passion for the woods," he said. 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. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S