Paw Timber Sale

9/24/96
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Topic: threats to Klamath sacred sites in Paw timber sale (Oregon)
Written 12:59 AM Sep 25, 1996 by pamb@efn.org in cdp:rainfor.genera
This proposed sale is on land taken from the Klamath Tribe when it was
terminated. The government has shown no concern or regard for preserving
and protecting sacred sites. Call Leon Paneta (Pres. Clinton's chief of
staff) at 202/456-6797 or fax him at 202/456-2883 to register your
concerns about this proposed sale as well as all of the logging taking
place under the Salvage Logging Rider.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 23:17:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Cindy Armento
To: wall-list@igc.apc.org
Subject: News/Bkgnd Glickman's Directive and the Paw

The units within the Paw Timber Sale contain native forest. Healthy old growth
trees live throughout these units, and a significant and very noticable
component
of yew trees abound there. Logging these stands seemed so unreasonable and so
unnecessary that it seemed that any reasonable person would agree if presented
with
the facts and reason.

After touring the Paw Timber Sale, it seemed that an appeal to reason would save
the Paw - the Glickman Directive would be applicable to this horrible project.
After all, if Glickman directed that logging "dead and dying trees" in roadless
areas should not go forward under authority of the rider, then surely the
logging
of green, healthy old growth trees in roadless areas should not go forward under
the rider, either.

In an effort to save the Paw, a letter outlining some of the many reasons why
the
sale should be halted was sent out to Glickman and Ostb. That letter and its
response will follow.

Sad to say, the Glickman Directive apparently is nothing more than soothing
words
with no real substance - the Clinton Administration's famous forte. After all,
it's an election year.

According to Jack Ward Thomas, the Glickman Directive was nothing more than a
ploy
"to preserve and enhance public confidence in a situation where the Government
has
been provided unprecedented discretion for emergency conditions regarding
salvage
timber sales ... the directive was needed to combat distrust." - See Jack Ward
Thomas's letter at the end of this message. As for Glickman's Directive that
logging dead and dying trees within roadless areas should not go forward under
the
rider, since the Paw's roadless areas contain healthy, green trees, the
directive
does not apply!!!

Likewise, the government is not concerned about the logging of yew trees. The
Forest Service apparently no longer sees a need to protect them.

[a summary of Glickman's response will follow]

___________Letter to Glickman__________________


Secretary Dan Glickman
U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture
14th St. and Independence Ave SW
Washington, D.C. 20250

Mr. Don Ostby
Forest Supervisor
Umpqua National Forest
2900 Stewart Parkway
Roseburg, OR 97470

August 15, 1996

Dear Secretary Glickman and Supervisor Ostby:

The Oregon Natural Resources Council, Umpqua Watersheds, and many other
conservation organizations listed at the end of this letter wish to bring
to your attention the Paw Timber Sale in the Diamond Lake Ranger District
of the Umpqua National Forest, Oregon. The FEIS for this sale was prepared
in the shadow of P.L. 104-19, and so is exempt from public appeal and full
judicial review. This sale involves clearcutting of healthy old growth
forest in a roadless area north of Crater Lake National Park. The Forest
Service has not only ignored public comment on the DEIS, the agency's
final EIS features a preferred alternative that bears little resemblance
to those offered in the draft version, and the public is not able to
meaningfully comment on this radical new alternative. The Paw Timber Sale
is not in compliance with environmental law and absent the salvage
legislation, the Paw Timber Sale would not withstand normal review and
appeal. This sale presents significant public concerns. In the interest
of sound resource management and to insure compliance with both your July
2, 1996 directive and the August 9, 1995 Memorandum of Agreement regarding
implementation of the P.L. 104-19 salvage rider, we request that
preparation for the Paw Timber sale be halted immediately.

The Paw Timber Sale Must Be Stopped For The Following Reasons:

There is no forest health emergency that justifies cutting healthy green
ancient forests inside the Mt. Bailey Roadless Area. This sale is clearly
contrary to the spirit of Secretary Glickman's July 2, 1996 directive. The
directive states that salvage sales may not go forward in roadless areas
under authority of the rider. It is logical to infer that if logging of
diseased and dying trees is prohibited in roadless areas, then logging of
healthy green trees in roadless areas is likewise prohibited. If the July
2 directive does not apply to this sale, then the effect of the directive
is to prohibit the logging of dead and dying trees in some roadless areas
but to allow the logging of healthy green 500+ year old trees in other
roadless areas. This would be a truly outrageous result!!

The Paw sale violates the Glickman directive in at least three ways: (a)
roadless area timber sales such as the Paw should not be pushed through
under the rider, (b) no emergency exists that justifies using the rider's
shortcuts and exemptions and (c) public participation has been inadequate
because the Forest Service has not taken public comments on the proposed
sale since passage of the rider.

Healthy ancient forest with 500 year old Douglas fir trees should not be
destroyed for any reason. Nearly every unit in this sale contains such
trees, and the stands exhibit healthy old growth characteristics. This
sale involves 26 MMBF of timber harvest. That's over 5000 log trucks!
These are native forests. We didn't plant them. We cannot improve them.
We must leave them alone. There is no explanation that we can offer our
grandchildren why these magnificent forests had to be cut. Please see
attached photos!

The National Marine Fisheries Service decided last month to list the
Umpqua Cutthroat trout as an endangered species. The PAW FEIS does not
even discuss resident cutthroat, even though they may be affected by the
proposed activities. In addition, this sale is in an area that recharges
an important aquifer of clean, cold water needed by downstream fish.
Steelhead and coho salmon in the Umpqua Basin are also proposed for
listing under the ESA, and clearcutting could damage the aquifer and harm
not only endangered cutthroat but also downstream steelhead and coho. The
Forest Service must at a minimum consult with the National Marine
Fisheries Service on these newly listed and proposed species.

The Umpqua Basin has suffered more than any other watershed during the
reign of the so-called Salvage Rider. Over 260 million board feet of
old-growth covering over 4,674 acres will be exempted from all
environmental laws and clearcut under the rider. The rider is destroying
forests that the President's Forest Plan assured would remain standing.
The rider has seriously undermined the biological baseline supporting
Option 9, especially in the Umpqua Basin. In light of this significant new
information on accelerated logging in the Umpqua Basin, the adequacy of
Option 9 must be reviewed before cutting on this scale can resume.

Pacific yew trees that contain medically valuable anti-cancer compounds
will be destroyed by the Paw timber sale. Almost every cutting unit in the
sale has significant yew resources. Clearcutting will destroy the yew
trees and their habitat. The FEIS fails to mention the presence of these
trees and the Forest Service has no plan to insure that the yew will be
properly utilized to manufacture Taxol. These trees must either be
properly utilized or protected from cutting.

Public participation in the preparation of the Paw Timber Sale has been
grossly inadequate. The DEIS came out in 1992, before the President's
Forest Plan. The FEIS came out after the President's Forest Plan and
during the reign of the rider. The public has no opportunity to review and
comment on the FEIS for consistency with the President's Forest Plan. It
is inappropriate to push this controversial sale through under the rider.
The Forest Service has not taken comments on this timber sale since 1993,
and not at all since passage of the rider. In order to be consistent with
NEPA and your directive, the Forest Service should publish a Supplemental
DEIS after the rider expires and invite public comments.

We request that further preparation for the Paw Timber Sale be halted
immediately. Please give this matter your prompt attention. Thank you.

Sincerely,


Doug Heiken
Land Protection Advocate
for ONRC , Umpqua Watersheds and the following endorsers: Headwaters,
National Wildlife Federation, Native Forest Council, Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance, Pacific Rivers Council, Sierra Club, Siskiyou Regional Education
Project, Western Ancient Forest Campaign

cc:President Clinton
Leon Panetta
Al Gore
Kathleen McGinty
Jim Lyons
Jack Ward Thomas
Tom Tuchman
Ron Wyden
Peter DeFazio
Rick Abbot, Diamond Lake Ranger District
Regional Forester Robert Williams
Governor John Kitzhaber
____________Jack Ward Thomas responds________________

Mr. Doug Heiken
Oregon Natural Resources Council
1551 Oak Street, Suite A
Eugene, OR 97401

Dear Mr. Heiken:

Thank you for your August 15, 1996 letter to Secretary of Agriculture
Glickman and Forest Supervisor Don Ostby, Umpqua National forest. Your
letter was forwarded to the USDA Forest Service for consideration and
response.

In your letter, you asked that work on the Paw Timber Sale be halted and
expressed concerns about compliance with environmental laws, public
involvement, and compliance with the Secretary's directive of July 2,
1996.

The directive responded to the unique situation created by the emergency
salvage logging rider. It was felt that the directive was necessary in
order to preserve and enhance public confidence in a situation where the
Government has been provided unprecedented discretion for emergency
conditions regarding salvage timber sales. The forest Service has been
doing a good job in this area, but the directive was needed to combat
distrust.

The Paw Timber Sale is not of an emergency nature. It is part of the
Umpqua National Forest's regularly scheduled timber sale program. It is,
howeveram. It is,
however, subject to certain provisions of the emergency salvage logging
rider. We have been assured by Supervisor Ostby that irrespective of the
provisions of that legislation regarding administrative appeals procedures
and legal recourse, the timber sale is in full compliance with
environmental laws. Supervisor Ostby also has assured me the issues and
the nature of environmental effects found during the preparation of the
draft environmental impact statement remained the same during the
preparation of the final environmental impact statement.

You also raised other subjects, that while not related to adherence to
laws or the Secretary's directive, are nevertheless contentious and
embrace strongly held values of many people. These are the matters of
harvesting old-growth timber and harvesting timber in roadless areas.

The April 13, 1994 "Record of Decision for Amendments to the Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range
of the Northern Spotted Owl" signed by former Secretary Mike Espy and
U.S.Deparrtment of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is the plan that
guides the management of the Umpqua National Forest resources. It
addresses social, economic, and environmental needs. In part, it provides
for a sustainable level of timber harvest and, at the same time habitat
for late successional dependent species. The lands used as the primary
source of commercial timber production are called "matrix," and those
lands that provide most of the late-successional habitat are called
"late-successional reserves." Roadless areas are found in both of these
land allocations.

Much of the Umpqua National Forest is covered by old-growth forest. Some
of this is in roadless areas within the matrix as is the case in the Paw
Timber Sale. It is not deemed essential to the survival of
late-successional habitat dependent species and is available for timber
harvest.

You also raised the matter of destruction of Pacific yew. Fortunately, we
are no longer dependent on Pacific yew from the Umpqua National Forest for
our sources of taxol. Whatever unavoidable loss of Pacific yew trees
might take place incidental to the Paw Timber Sale is acceptable.

While people disagree on whether the Paw Timber Sale should go forward, we
do not find any reason why it should not. The environmental analysis and
decisions making appear thorough and sensitive to environmental concerns.

Forest Supervisor Ostby also responded to your letter; enclosed is a copy
of his September 3, 1996, response to you. We urge you to continue to
work with Forest Supervisor Don Ostby. I am sure he will see to it that
citizens' interests are recognized and the Umpqua National Forest is
managed in an environmentally sound manner.

Thank you again for writing and expressing your interest in the management
of the Umpqua National Forest.

Sincerely,

Jack Ward Thomas
Chief Error: Unable to read footer file.