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Timber experiment puts people to work By Paul Fattig CENTRAL POINT � Matt Waterston stresses he represents neither the timber industry nor the environmental community. "We�re not on anybody�s side," Waterston cautioned. "This just comes down to common sense, to using logic out there." Waterston, who is addressing a conference of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management employees at the Oregon State University extension service auditorium today, is forester for Pew Forest Products, a timber firm near Quincy, Calif. The company is completing the experimental Hungry Project, a land stewardship contract in the Plumas National Forest. The fuels and fire hazard reduction project involved treating 2,000 acres to remove 50,000 tons of biomass, 8 million board feet of downed wood and snags and 4 million board feet of commercial timber. The project, which began last year, is being closely watched by natural resource agencies, the timber industry and environmental groups. It was identified by the Quincy Library Group, an organization dedicated to resolving conflict in the woods. Waterston, who has worked in the woods for 11 years, believes the stewardship contract represents the future for many woods workers. "What I preach to people out there is that you�ve got to care for the woods, that the forest is your livelihood," he said in an interview before the conference. "The key is to get people to believe in what you�re doing." The company is now applying lessons it learned on the Hungry Project on other jobs. "We hope we can get more people to buy into this," he said. Randy Pew, a fourth-generation logger whose family owns the firm, said he initially resisted the new focus. It�s easier to do conventional logging, he noted. But he also wanted to see if a tool could be added to the toolbox to keep woodworkers working. His grandfather operated the last working sawmill in the Quincy area about 70 miles southeast of Red Bluff. Basically, the goal was to thin for fuel reduction and leave the larger trees. No trees larger than 26 inches in diameter were cut. The mechanized thinning work, which employed more than two dozen people, included treating less than 5 percent of the watershed, leaving habitat for spotted owls and other wildlife. "I don�t consider myself a logger anymore � I consider myself a forest health contractor," Pew said. "It�s a good thing, but it�s not a �fix all,� " he said. "But it�s something that can keep local mills running and small communities going. "The only thing holding this work up are environmental extremists and the bureaucrats," he added. "But the people working on the ground want to do the right thing." Ed Rilly, lead planner with the Applegate Ranger District and one of the conference organizers, noted the project was one of 26 such pilot efforts being conducted nationally. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA