FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Conservationists Challenge Plan to Log Near Crater Lake

Roadless timber sale has generated national attention, public criticism

Despite receiving thousands of public comments, the Umpqua National Forest continues to insist on tying destructive backcountry logging to a project meant to protect homes.

The conservation group Oregon Wild today announced that it has filed an administrative challenge to a controversial proposal to log in roadless wildlands near Crater Lake National Park.  The challenge, brought against the DBug logging sale, is the latest effort by conservationists to engage Umpqua National Forest in negotiations to resolve conflicts over the proposal.

While advertised as a project to protect cabins and roads from forest fires, Umpqua National Forest’s DBug sale also includes logging in roadless areas near the Crater Lake boundary, as well as in other remote areas, and substantial logging of old-growth trees. Conservationists have offered several compromise proposals that would speed thinning near cabins and roads, but Umpqua National Forest managers have thus far refused to drop several controversial parts of the project.

Statement of Robert Klavins, Roadless Wildlands Advocate for Oregon Wild:

“Crater Lake is the crown jewel of Oregon’s public lands, and to protect the Park we must also protect the surrounding wildlands, particularly pristine roadless areas.  For decades the Umpqua National Forest has poorly managed those lands, and the DBug timber sale is just the latest example."

"We have an opportunity here to go forward with common-sense thinning work near cabins and roads to reduce the risk of forest fires, but the Forest Service continues to insist on linking this important work to reckless proposals to log in roadless backcountry areas, and to log old-growth trees over 100 years old.”

“The Umpqua National Forest seems more interested in making a political statement than in protecting the forest and private property.  President Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack have repeatedly promised to safeguard roadless areas and defend the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.  It’s ridiculous that Oregonians must fight with the Forest Service in order to have them honor those commitments.”

The objection process is the last opportunity for the public to constructively weigh in on the project before a final decision is made. In the spring of 2010, Oregon Wild and over a dozen conservation and recreation groups submitted a pair of Citizen’s Alternative Proposals that identified over 8,000 acres on which common ground could be found. It also identified areas that would cause continued conflict.

Relevant Links:

• Oregon Wild D-Bug website page (links, video, pictures)
• Oregon Wild official objection
• Citizen's Alternative Map and Press Release

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