Forest group to seek council’s help

Groups opposed to BLM plan calling for more logging.

Local forest advocates will ask the City Council Monday to join them in criticizing federal forest management plans.

Members of the Coast Range Association will present a resolution to the council on Monday aimed at building political clout to oppose changes in forest protections.

“We’re urging our Congressional leaders to come up with a more sustainable program to manage our federal lands,” said Reed Wilson, a spokesman for the association.

Opponents such as Wilson argue that revisions being considered by the Bureau of Land Management could increase logging, especially in areas of old-growth, while reversing wildlife protections.

The time for public comment on the plan passed in January, but the decision process is continuing.

The proposed resolution is the same as one adopted by the Eugene City Council in mid-February. It calls for the federal government to reject changes to its policy. It also asks Congress to protect mature and old-growth trees while adopting forestry projects aimed at restoring forests.

One-half of Oregon’s U.S. Senate delegation, Sen. Ron Wyden, already has announced plans to support increased logging as a way to reintroduce some form of timber payment to Western counties that rely heavily on harvesting timber grown on federal land.

During a Corvallis town-hall meeting in January, Wyden said he expected any change to federal lands policy to languish in federal court for years while counties continue to struggle with shrinking budgets and increasingly destructive forest fires.

Wyden suggested legislation to encourage thinning sales and more logging of federal forests to fund such thinning projects as a way to break the impasse.

Meanwhile, Wilson said the Coast Range Association has been taking groups of people out to see ancient forests near Alsea Falls that, he said, are likely to be logged should the BLM follow through with changes.

Members of the Coast Range Association approached Ward 3 Councilor George Grosch with the resolution. He encouraged them to bring it before the full council.

Grosch said he will recommend that the resolution be sent to the Urban Services Committee — of which Grosch is the chairman — to look into the matter and bring it back to the council in April.