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47 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, October 10, 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 Menu Guide How To Guide 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 October 5, 2004 %%$$cutline$$%% Protesters interfere with Biscuit fire salvage By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune Protesters temporarily blocked a road to a Biscuit fire salvage logging unit in the Gold Beach Ranger District at sunrise Monday while others rallied for a noon demonstration in front of a U.S. Forest Service office in Grants Pass. One protester was arrested for interfering with an agricultural operation on a logging road leading to the Horse salvage sale near Agness, according to Tom Lavagnino, spokesman for the Rogue River- Siskiyou National Forest. The protester, whose named was not available, was arrested after being told to leave, he said. A U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer and Curry County sheriff’s deputies removed several vehicles and what Lavagnino described as "sticks piled in teepee fashion" from the road. The loggers were able to start working late Monday morning, he said. Logging on the Horse sale, which includes 2.4 million board feet of timber from 125 acres, began late last week. It is one of the first to be logged in the Biscuit fire salvage, although millions of board feet of timber have been removed as a part of hazard tree removal along forest roads. Advertisement The Biscuit fire salvage project calls for 372 million board feet of fire-killed timber to be removed from the 2002 fire which burned nearly half a million acres of national forest land. The unit, sold to the Silver Creek Timber Co. of Merlin in August, is on land being managed under the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan for timber harvest. The sale has been subcontracted to Aurora-based Columbia Helicopters Inc. All of the timber from that sale will be removed by helicopter. Opponents to the Biscuit fire salvage say the salvage includes more than fire-killed trees from 19,000 acres. They say the bulk of it will be harvested from old-growth timber reserves and roadless areas. "After watching logging contractors with Columbia Helicopter cut down large trees in this incredibly remote section of the forest last Friday, we can safely say that this Biscuit logging plan has absolutely nothing to do with forest restoration or community protection," said activist Tim Ream in a prepared statement. "We would encourage the public to visit the Horse timber sale and see for themselves," he added. "Logging is not restoration and cutting down large trees is not fuel reduction." Many of those gathered for the noon rally had attended the three-day annual National Forest Protection Alliance convention which began Friday in the Illinois Valley. "People doing the blockade really want to send the message to the American people that ancient forest logging and roadless area logging is alive and well under the Bush administration," said activist Matthew Koehler, an Alliance spokesman. "Logging big trees in the backcountry is not restoration." Some environmentalists haven’t challenged the Horse sale, preferring instead to try to stop logging on the old-growth reserves which have been set aside under the 1994 plan to protect wildlife habitat. They have taken the agency to court to try to halt those salvage sales. But Don Smith, executive director of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project in the Illinois Valley, said he respects the right of other activists to protest the Horse sale. The rally in Grants Pass was pleasant without any negative instances, Lavagnino said. "It was very peaceful, a nice group of folks," he said. Officials even met with two representatives of the demonstrators to listen to their views, he said. Did they convince the agency of changing its plans? "Absolutely not," he replied. 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. 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