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Will Oregon’s Roadless Forest Be Logged Despite Obama Directive
Groups work to resolve Red Zone timber sale but roadless logging on doorstep of Crater Lake may move forward
Roadless policy still uncertain as projects move forward in Oregon.
Diamond Lake, Ore Jun 16, 2009The fate of Oregon’s roadless forests is still up in the air as public comment closed this month on the massive timber sale project on the Umpqua National Forest known a D-Bug. The planned sale includes almost 1,000 acres of logging in forests identified by the federal government as inventoried roadless areas. Last month, President Barack Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a directive calling for a “timeout” on timber cutting and road-building in these special areas inside National Forests.
The D-Bug planning area stretches from the northern border of Crater Lake National Park and encompasses areas surrounding Mount Bailey, Diamond Lake, and the popular Oregon Cascades Recreation Area. In all, the project planning area covers nearly 40,000 acres. However, sensitive roadless areas would see the brunt of the logging with 990 acres affected in inventoried roadless areas. In addition, over 3,000 acres would be commercially logged and 14 miles of roads would be built in the roadless forests that form the proposed Crater Lake Wilderness—including the conversion of the area’s only dedicated ski trail (#1410) into a logging road. The Umpqua National Forest says the logging project is necessary to prevent fire.
“The Forest Service is using fire as a scare tactic and essentially saying we need to destroy the forest to save it,” said roadless wildlands advocate Rob Klavins. “Logging in a healthy native forest to prevent its possible demise is a bit like a doctor killing the patient to prevent them from getting sick. What’s left of our roadless backcountry should be valued not for its timber, but for its recreational, scenic, and environmental qualities. The President and Secretary get that. So should the Umpqua National Forest.”
The national directive on roadless policy has already altered the course of another timber sale in Oregon, this one on the Fremont National Forest. There, the Red Zone project called for commercial logging inside the Deadhorse Rim Roadless Area and other pristine spots. A resolution between forest supervisors and conservationists will allow for limited removal of imminent hazard trees in the immediate vicinity of roads that form the boundary of the roadless area.
“Protections for roadless backcountry have always made sense,” added Klavins. “The resolution to the Red Zone project goes to show that reasonable approaches to health and safety issues can be accomplished while protecting the heart and soul of these pristine areas. We hope we can find a similar solution to the D-Bug sale.”
Oregon’s nearly 2 million acres of roadless forest were first protected by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. One of the most popular conservation measures in history, the Roadless Rule was the product of rigorous scientific, economic, and environmental review and came out of the most extensive public process in the history of federal rulemaking. The Rule received 1.6 million public comments—of which 95% were in favor. On a per-capita basis, Oregon submitted more comments than any other state. Nationally, the Roadless Rule protected 58.5 million acres of our most pristine wildlands from road-building, commercial logging, and destructive development without reducing current levels of access and including commonsense exceptions for public health and safety, firefighting, and access to private land.
In just the last two months, 127 eminent scientists, 119 outdoor recreation businesses including the Outdoor Industry Association, four governors, 121 members of Congress, and 25 Senators sent letters appealing to President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to protect and defend roadless areas on our national forests. Conservationists have vowed to push for the long term and permanent reinstatement of the 20001 Roadless Rule over the coming months.
“In the Red Zone project, the Forest Service has chosen collaboration. Unfortunately, in the case of D-Bug—in one of Oregon’s most treasured places—the Forest Service has instead chosen confrontation,” said Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild who worked to negotiate the Red Zone resolution and visited the D-Bug project last week. “The D-Bug project alone would entail more logging in inventoried roadless areas than during the last 8 years across the entire country!”
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