WAFC Forest Focus: Return of the Rider Dead, Part IV
3/3/97
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Headline: WAFC Forest Focus: Return of the Rider Dead, Part IV
Source: Western Ancient Forest Campaign
Date: 3/3/97
FOREST FOCUS, the Bulletin of the Western Ancient Forest
Campaign, Mar. 3, 1997 Reach us at (202)789-2844x291, Fax:
(202)682-1943, or email WAFCDC@igc.apc.org
RETURN OF THE RIDER DEAD, PART IV: The Shoshone National
Forest in Wyoming is proposing to release the Gravelbar timber sale
for the fourth time since it was first planned in 1987, says
conservationist Rob Ament of American Wildlands. Gravelbar has
been stopped three previous times for environmental concerns and was
most recently proposed under the Logging Rider. Though subject to
much public concern since 1987, the sale has not been altered since its
original design. The Gravelbar timber sale is proposed to log
"overmature" 300 year old trees but is stated to be a removal of
"infestations" of mistletoe, a native plant. As with every timber sale
on the Clark's Fork Ranger District since 1988 it is planned entirely in
a grizzly bear recovery zone. Logging is planned in sensitive wetlands
and work crews will continue to degrade habitat of rare Yellowstone
cutthroat trout in Sunlight Creek by driving through it on a daily basis.
Forester Catherine Pinegar admitted that no mitigation measures are
planned for the Yellowstone cutthroat trout but said, "This is one of the
best sales we've planned." The decision notice was signed Feb. 20 and
the appeal period is in effect for 45 days from that date. To express
concern on the Gravelbar sale contact USFS District Ranger Brent
Larson at 307/754-7207.
JUDGE SAYS USFS VIOLATED PROTESTERS: According to the
Salem (OR) Statesman-Journal of Feb. 27, Circuit Judge Joseph Ochoa
ruled that the US Forest Service violated the free speech First
Amendment rights of citizens by closing public roads to keep protesters
from logging sites. The case stemmed from the arrest of nine
protesters at the Horse Byars Logging Rider timber sale in the
Willamette National Forest outside of Detroit, Oregon. The
Statesman-Journal reported that Judge Ochoa dismissed second-degree
trespassing charges filed against the protesters and became "the first
Oregon judge to rule that the Forest Service over-stepped its authority
in closing public roads to meet the terms of timber-sale contracts."
COMMUNITIES SAY FOREST SERVICE VIOLATES THEM:
Residents of Woodfords and Hope Valley, CA are "outraged" over
USFS plans to log within two feet of the West Fork Carson River
despite a prior commitment to provide a 100 foot buffer. The
Woodfords timber sale was designed last year under the "emergency"
Logging Rider and USFS personnel claim the timber sale was planned
as the trees are a "hazard" to Highway 88 and a powerline paralleling
the river. Local residents and conservation groups are calling on the
Forest Service to halt the Woodfords timber sale and have asked
several members of Congress to intervene. "The Forest Service has
already caused enough damage to both the river and the public trust,"
said Hope Valley resort owner Patty Brissenden. "We wrongly
assumed that the Forest Service would use their common sense and not
cut a mere two feet from the river," said Ryan Henson of the
California Wilderness Coalition.
DOESN'T ADD UP: A February 23 editorial in the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer says, "It doesn't come as much of a surprise to
anyone in these parts...that the Forest Service spends more of the
taxpayers money on timber harvests than it makes." Noting the recent
report by the President's Council of Economic Advisers outlines USFS
1995 losses of $234 million the Post-Intelligencer sums it up with
"maybe Congress can proceed to an informed debate about...how far
these natural resource extraction subsidies should go."
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
Western Ancient Forest Campaign
1101 14th St. NW #1400
Washington, D.C. 20005
202/789-2844 ext. 291
202/682-1943 fax
wafcdc@igc.apc.org