Find out about issues important in Oregon
Find out what is going on in your part of the state
|
|
Environmental Update: Find out about issues important in Oregon |
Find your group: Find out what is going on in your part of the state |
Search the Oregon Chapter web site: | ||||
|
|
|||||||
 |
Chapter Home >> Alerts >> Western Oregon Plan Revisions Ancient Forests in Oregon on the Bush Administration's Chopping Block Make your voice heard!
The Bush Administration has announced shocking new plans to significantly increase logging on 2.6 million acres of public land in western Oregon by clearcutting old-growth forests and reducing protections for salmon-bearing creeks and streams. Rising out of an agreement between the timber industry and the Bush Administration, the Bureau of Land Management's 'Western Oregon Plan Revision' is the gravest threat to Oregon's ancient forests in years. The draft Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) will mean the loss of ancient forests from the northern Willamette Valley to southern Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains. According to The Oregonian newspaper, the BLM's draft plan would boost logging of trees 200 years and older sevenfold over the next decade. This would be an unprecedented and unsustainable increase in logging Oregon's last old-growth forests and by the BLM's own admission will open up currently protected streamside forests and 'old-growth reserves' to new clearcutting. Across western Oregon, during the first decade, the Bush Administration's plan will:
AP news story - Agency finds BLM logging plan for Western Oregon bad for salmon Retrieved 1/24/08 Take Action Today! 1) Call and Email Congress - It is time for Congress to rein in the Bush administration and prevent them from threatening our old-growth forests, clean water and wild salmon. Please contact your member of Congress (Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. David Wu, Rep. Darlene Hooley, Rep. Peter DeFazio, Rep. Greg Walden) and your Senators (Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Gordon Smith) at the US Capitol Switchboard at 800-828-0498. Please ask them to use Congress's 'power of the purse' to prevent the Bush administration from spending money to log old growth forests, and to stop the BLM from selling off Oregon's ancient forests. 2) Call the Governor - Urge Governor Kulongoski to reject the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision and ask him to stand up to the Bush administration and prevent them from logging Oregon's old growth forests and threatening clean water and wild salmon. Call the Governor at 503-378-4582 or send an email at http://www.governor.state.or.us/Gov/contact_us.shtml. 3) Write a Letter to the Editor - Make your voice of opposition to the Bush Administration's old growth logging plans heard in your local newspaper. You can email the Oregonian letters of up to 150 words at letters@news.oregonian.com
Contact your Senators and Members of Congress and tell them to stop the Bush Administration's attempts to sell off Oregon's ancient forests and stop the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision. Email forms, fax, phone and mailing addresses can be found at: Senator Ron Wyden - http://wyden.senate.gov/contact **Sample letter** - feel free to personalize and send in.
Other useful information: For more information, please contact Ivan Maluski with the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club at 503-238-0442, x304 or ivan.maluski@sierraclub.org. Background on the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision... In the early planning stages for the BLM's Western Oregon Plan Revision, over 90% of the nearly 3,000 comments submitted to the Bush Administration asked for protection of mature and old-growth forests. Most Oregonians want the federal government to safe-guard communities from wildfire while protecting what remains of our nation's ancient forests. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration's preferred alternative outlined for the BLM would manage over one million acres as Timber Management Areas - managed solely for rotation forestry - where hundreds of thousands of acres of currently protected ancient forests would be converted into industrial tree farms over time. Under this plan, wildlife, salmon, recreation and clean water would be secondary to timber industry profits. Losing ancient forests The Western Oregon Plan Revision covers six districts of the BLM: Medford, Roseburg, Eugene, Salem, Coos Bay and the Klamath Falls area of the Lakeview District, which is approximately 2.6 million acres of public land in western Oregon. This is an area larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Forests in the Rogue, Umpqua and Willamette River basins are primarily affected, as well as many of Oregon's coastal watersheds. The WOPR has three primary alternatives, including the Bush Administration's 'preferred' alternative: Alternative 2. Under this plan, the BLM would clearcut 139,700 acres (over 200 square miles) of mature and old growth forest while building 1,000 miles of logging roads per decade, converting pristine ancient forests into monoculture tree farms. Clearcutting would become the preferred logging method, and 24% of all logging would target trees 200 years and older. The WOPR effectively pulls the BLM forests out from the scientific framework of the Northwest Forest Plan. The Northwest Forest Plan was enacted in 1994 and set aside old growth forests and sensitive areas along streams and rivers to protect them - while allowing some continued logging. Every alternative in the WOPR, however, would greatly increase the logging of mature and old-growth forests to levels before the Northwest Forest Plan. There is a better way Oregonians don't have to choose between a healthy timber industry and their old-growth forest heritage or clean water. The timber industry in Oregon is prospering, in 2006 marking the highest levels of logging since the early 1990's primarily from vast private land holdings in Oregon. At a time when public consensus over old-growth protection has never been stronger, the Bush Administration is handing over our public ancient forests to the timber industry, which is prospering without having to log ancient forests and public lands. There is a better way. Some Oregon forest managers are beginning to move beyond the conflicts of the past by focusing on removing old logging roads and restoring damaged tree plantations created from past clearcutting. Others are focused on thinning brush and small trees from areas near communities to protect them from wildfire. Protecting communities from fire and creating jobs in restoring damaged landscapes, while protecting ancient forests, should be the top priority of federal land management agencies. Unfortunately, the Bush administration wants to put the chainsaws and bulldozers back in the old growth forests instead of protecting communities from fire and creating jobs in restoring damaged landscapes. Enviro News & Archived Alerts Please see our Enviro News Page for press releases & other Environmental News. You can also find out how to subscribe to the Oregon email alert list. See our complete Alerts Archive. It's not too late to 'take action' on some of these issues.
|
© by Kathryn DelGatto |
||
|
This page last updated Thursday, January 24, 2008
|
