White River salvage rampage
6/06/96
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Topic: ! Another Lawless Colorado Logging
Written 3:39 PM Jun 6, 1996 by landwater in cdp:en.alerts
!! WHITE RIVER SALVAGE RAMPAGE !!
STOP THE SOUTH QUARTZITE TIMBER SALE
The White River National Forest is at it again. The Forest with one of the most
aggressive salvage programs in Colorado just sold the South Wagonwheel sale to a
California company (so much for supporting local timber dependent communities).
Now, they're back, right next door to South Wagonwheel with the SECOND LARGEST
LAWLESS
SALVAGE LOGGING PROPOSAL IN COLORADO -- 5.5 million board feet - almost 2 and
1/2
square miles to be slashed.
We need your help to STOP the SOUTH QUARTZITE TIMBER SALE! This helicopter cut
of
beetle-killed Engelmann spruce within a few miles of the Flat Tops Wilderness
north
of Glenwood Springs is now undergoing public review. Fax the USFS BY MONDAY,
JUNE
10:
WHERE'S THE FOREST HEALTH CRISIS? The trees scheduled for logging have been
dead
for almost a half-century -- 50% of them will hold their value until the year
2020,
and the fire risk is not great. What's the "crisis"?
HARM TO WILDLIFE IS UNACCEPTABLE. Logging will gut habitat for numerous snag
dependent species, including golden-crowned kinglet, boreal owl, and three-toed
woodpecker. In addition, the Forest Service's own analysis shows truck and
helicopter traffic will drive elk out of this and the half-dozen other areas
slated
for lawless logging on the White River Plateau.
HARM TO BACK-COUNTRY RECREATION IS UNACCEPTABLE. Logging will likely violate
the
Forest Plan, chainsawing parts of an area set aside for primitive recreation in
unroaded areas outside wilderness. The Coffee Pot Road, a popular
access route for hunting, hiking, camping, and mountain biking will be choked
with
hundreds more logging trucks.
The entire South Quartzite area will be closed during the logging, and areas
around
it will be disrupted by the drone of helicopters for months.
HARM TO RIPARIAN AREAS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Logging may fell trees inside riparian
zones, damaging these biologically productive area.
HARM FROM CUMULATIVE IMPACTS IS UNACCEPTABLE. The Forest Service virtually
ignores
the cumulative effects of this, logging, together with the lawless logging at
South
Wagonwheel and at least 4 other sites within a few miles. All impacts noted
above
will be magnified.
DON'T MAKE THIS LAWLESS SALVAGE LOGGING!! Keeping the Forest Service
accountable
to citizen input is the best way to protect the environment. But Forest
Supervisor
LaSalle said he favors these sales BECAUSE they eliminate the public's rights to
appeal!
Send (or better yet fax) comments by Monday, June 10 to: Bob
Currie, Rifle Ranger District, 0094 County Road 244, Rifle, CO
81650 (fax: 970-625-2532, tel: 970-625-2371)
For more info, contact:
Rocky Smith, Colorado Environmental Coalition,
303-837-8704
Ted Zukoski, Land & Water Fund, 303-444-1188,
landwater@igc.apc.org