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Voters take big ax to anti-clearcut plan By PAUL FATTIG Jackson County residents joined voters across the state in chopping Measure 64 down to size. The initiative, which would have severely restricted the use of forestland, fell with a roughly 80 percent rejection while less than 20 percent supported it both locally and statewide Tuesday, according to early unofficial returns. Late results Tuesday showed the measure losing in Jackson County 18,807 to 3,348. "We're very pleased by the overwhelming rejection," said David Hill, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association. "But we felt all along that deciding forest management rules by ballot measure wouldn't set well with voters," he added. "Apparently it has not." Placed on the ballot by Oregonians for Labor Intensive Forest Economics, a statewide coalition of environmentalists, the measure would have banned clearcutting, which it defined as any acre that has fewer than 70 trees that measure 11 inches in diameter at chest height. The measure, which would have applied to private, county and state forestlands, would have also prohibited the harvesting of trees 30 inches or larger in diameter, banned herbicide and pesticide use in forest practices, stopped slash burning on site and declared waterways within timber sale areas to be navigable. In addition, it would have allowed any United States citizen to sue over a proposed timber sale. The plaintiff would be protected from paying the court costs unless the lawsuit was found to be frivolous. Although several environmental groups around the state took no position on the measure, it had been approved by the Ashland-based Headwaters environmental coalition. But board member Chris Bratt, although noting he generally supported the measure, said it had some flaws, including the ban on slash burning on site. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA