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53 °F 5 Day Forecast Saturday, November 29, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | 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 October 24, 2003 Judge reorders logging halt BLM denies Klamath Center charge that woods work continued By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune GLENDALE — A federal judge reordered a halt to logging on a contested timber sale Wednesday after an environmental group charged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with ignoring the original order. "We have the BLM on record of having ignored public comments and the ecological impact — now we’re reaching a point where federal court orders don't matter to them," said George Sexton, conservation director for the Ashland- based Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. Nonsense, countered Lynda Boody, Glendale field manager for the BLM's Medford District. "We were not defying the judge’s order," she said. Advertisement Boody said the original order was never delivered to the district. Instead, the agency received the news of the order via a telephone call from a Department of Justice attorney, she said. The attorney indicated the order halted only the felling of trees, she said. As a result, timber cutting was halted when the original order was issued Friday, but yarding and hauling of the felled trees continued through Wednesday, she said. The controversy centers on the King Wolf timber sale in the BLM’s Medford District, a 5.3-million-board foot sale located in the headwaters of Wolf and Coyote creeks. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken issued the temporary restraining order. The Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center requested it after center officials claimed the BLM was harvesting nearly double what it had indicated in its environmental assessment of the logging impact. The order called for an Oct. 28 hearing on the issue. "We had asked for a halt for felling and hauling activities," Sexton said, indicating the federal agency and its attorneys knew that the order called for halting all logging activity at the site. "What we know for sure is that four days of yarding and hauling occurred after a federal judge issued an order to stop that very activity," he said. Boody disagreed with that conclusion. "We didn’t get anything in writing on Friday, but a call from our solicitor indicated the judge was going to restrict cutting," she said. "On Monday we took a shutdown notice out to site. "They pulled the guys out of the woods, but they continue yarding and hauling," she said. The Swanson Group, a Glendale logging firm, began logging the site last month. The request to halt the logging had been filed in August. All activity ended after the judge issued her clarification on Wednesday, Boody said. She defended the timber sale, noting that the harvest was adjusted after the unit was reviewed by a timber cruiser. Until then, it had been only a rough estimate, she said. But Sexton said the size of the sale "magically multiplied" because the agency has a mandate to increase the harvest. "We see more than just a pattern here: This is a clear line of logging old-growth at any cost," 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 © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times