Do Oregon Timber Sales Pass or Fail Conservation Tests? (AUDIO)

Group Asks Salazar to Focus on 'Non-Controversial' Projects.

Photo courtesy: oregonwild.org

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Since U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tossed out the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) in July, there are questions about which timber sales will be allowed to proceed on federal land in 16 Oregon counties.

Recently, Interior Department staffers came to Oregon to check out some proposed Bureau of Land Management (BLM) timber sales.

Now, the conservation group Oregon Wild has examined the same ten proposals and sent its own "report card" to Salazar. His agency has determined all ten projects are "ecologically sound." For seven out of ten, the group agrees - however, for three projects in the Roseburg BLM District, it does not.

Chandra LaGue, coordinator of Oregon Wild's old-growth campaign, says the report card format is a way to give the new Interior secretary some proactive feedback.

"Our remaining old-growth forests are not protected just because WOPR is dead, you know. There's still a lot of work to be done to bring the agencies along so that they aren't proposing to log any more of our precious old forests."

In preparing its comments, LaGue says Oregon Wild looked at how the projects would restore forest conditions after logging; what they would do to protect wildlife and fish; and the methods they'd use for thinning to protect older trees.

"There are a lot of components to a lot of these projects. And so, for example, they might be doing exactly that sort of restoration-based thinning that we want to see, but also be planning to build several miles of new roads in order to reach some of those plantations. And that can definitely bring a grade down."

The idea, she explains, is to urge the Interior Department to focus on restoration projects and non-controversial timber sales moving forward - although not everyone is convinced that will provide enough raw material for mills in some areas. The three timber sales that did not get "passing" grades all included clear-cutting in older forests.

The group has posted its letter and report card online, at oregonwild.org.

Special thanks to Oregon News Service
Produced and reported by Chris Thomas

Click the play button below for the audio report: