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89 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds 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 Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend February 18, 2004 Williams residents sue to halt logging By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune WILLIAMS — Opponents to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management timber sale filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Medford to halt logging scheduled to begin this spring. They also plan to ask U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, to request that the timber company not log the Scattered Apples sale in the Williams area until the lawsuit is resolved. Filed by Williams residents, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildland Center and the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, the lawsuit charges that the sale violates the federal National Environmental Policy Act. Specifically, it says the BLM failed to analyze the timber sale’s effects on community health and safety, failure to consider the cumulative effects of the project and other logging on the area and failure to consider the community’s restoration alternative submitted in 1998. "It’s not that the community is categorically against logging," said Brenna Bell, staff attorney for KSWC. "It’s that they want it done legally with an emphasis on community safety and well being — that means restoration first, commercial harvest second." Advertisement Agency officials have repeatedly stated the bulk of the 3.7-million-board-foot timber sale involves commercial thinning to reduce the fire hazard and improve forest health. Late last year, the Interior Board of Land Appeals denied a request for a stay by opponents of the Scattered Apples timber sale. The BLM has since awarded the sale to the Glendale-based Swanson Group Inc. The timber firm, which purchased it for $143,000 in the fall of 2002, can begin logging this spring. Although company officials did not return a call from the Mail Tribune Tuesday afternoon, they indicated in an earlier interview that they believed the sale would improve forest health and the local economy while reducing fire hazards. The firm has sent letters to local residents in an effort to convince them the sale would benefit the area. The goal is to return the forest to the way it would have appeared before intense fire suppression began nearly a century ago, they said. Bell applauds the firm for reaching out to the community before cutting any trees. "They have tried to make it more community-friendly but they haven’t been completely honest when they call it a restoration sale," she said. The biggest concern of local residents is that virgin forests as well as large, mature trees would be included in the cut, she said. "The Medford BLM has packaged this timber sale as a restoration project but clearly restoration is an afterthought to the commercial harvest of some of our last remaining old growth trees," said Williams resident Don Tipping. "We’re nervous about the increased fire danger that the sale will create." The community’s alternative called for concentrating on restoring the stands that had been logged years ago, Bell said. "We want them to stay out of the late successional (mature old trees) and unentered stands," she said. If the firm agrees to not log until the legality of the sale is settled, that would send a positive message to the community, Bell said. The lawsuit issue will probably be concluded by this fall, she 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 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