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BLM: no plan to award timber sale Environmentalists claim it's happening too early By PAUL FATTIG SELMA -- The Bureau of Land Management says reports that it is about to award the controversial Deer Mom timber sale to a logging firm are premature. The agency has no plans to award the appealed 800-acre sale in the Deer Creek drainage about five miles east of Selma, said Bob Korfhage, the BLM's Grant Pass resource area field manager. But an environmental organization, citing a BLM memorandum released earlier this month, isn't buying it. "This timber sale is moving forward," said Jay Lininger, a member of the Williams-based Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center. "It would be a great breach of public trust to allow the logging of Deer Mom sale before we get a decision on the merits of our appeal," he added. A March 10 memorandum from the BLM's Medford District office to the Interior Department Board of Land Appeals indicates that the agency plans to award the sale to the Superior Timber Co. in Glendale early next month, Lininger said. "We anticipate that the Contracting Officer will give full force and effect and proceed with the award of the Deer Mom timber sale to Superior Timber Company soon after April 9," it reads in part. To Lininger, that clearly means the agency is moving forward with the sale. He noted it has drawn appeals from the Deer Creek Valley Natural Resources Conservation Association and the Ashland-based Headwaters group as well as the Klamath Siskiyou center. More than 600 local residents also signed a petition opposing the sale, he added. Although opponents say it isn't illegal for the BLM to move forward, they argue that it is unethical and irresponsible. Logging the 2.7 million board feet of timber from the relatively low-elevation land would further damage a watershed already devastated from decades of timber harvesting, they say. "Our administrative remedies have not yet been exhausted but the BLM has indicated it is not willing to wait," Lininger said. Korfhage disagreed with Lininger's assessment. When a timber sale is advertised and sold, then appealed, it automatically triggers a 90-day administrative review process, he said. "We've gone through the traditional 90-day period," he said. "We put them on notice that we may do it (award sale) in 30 days. But we're still in litigation. "At this point I don't have any plans to award Deer Mom at that time (April 9)," he added. When the sale was first offered late last summer for $417,591, there were no bids. However, when the sale was dropped 10 percent, Superior purchased it. The firm was the only bidder. Meanwhile, Lininger said opponents hope the agency waits for the administrative review process to be completed before taking any action. "We're watching this real closely," Lininger said. "There are folks monitoring the site on an almost daily basis." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA