Bites Taken from the Biscuit

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) took two years to decide what to do after the Biscuit Fire burned in Southwestern Oregon in 2002. As they finally released their plan this summer, they immediately declared the Horse timber sale one of a number of "emergency situations," took away rights for public review and promptly auctioned the 125 acres of ancient forest for "salvage logging."

In making their decisions, the USFS relied heavily on the advice of Dr. John Sessions, a prominent professor at the Oregon State College of Forestry. He argued that modern forestry can grow an ancient forest faster than Nature. Logging is an essential step in his process. His report was financed by the Douglas County commissioners of Roseburg OR, old-growth logging capital of the Lower 48.

Sessions' report has now translated into action on the ground at Horse, the first timber sale among 19,000 acres to be cut at Biscuit. Logging at Horse is a most up-to-date study on how our National Forests are being managed.

The "Small Business" of Logging

The Horse timber sale is in and around the Lawson Creek and Game Lake watersheds on the Northwest corner of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Like most Biscuit timber sales, it sits above the Wild and Scenic Illinois River. The 500,000 acre Biscuit area is 95% unlogged and the area around Horse is no exception.

The Biscuit area is often described as "destroyed" by the fire. The area around Horse is classic mosaic burn with some areas untouched, some heavily burned and everything in between. The entire 125 acres are naturally regenerating, including conifers that are the genetic legacy of the area. Burned trees are fulfilling their many ecosystem functions including, shade, moisture retention, nutrients, nesting habitat and more.

In October 2004, burned trees greater than six feet in diameter began to fall to the saws. Third year natural regeneration is now destroyed under logs and debris. Soon those logs will be plucked from this remote region by helicopters and then hauled to mills.

The timber sale was purchased by John W. West, operating under the newly created Silver Creek Timber Company. Despite press reports that his business is local, it is registered in Glendale, Douglas County.

But Silver Creek isn't doing the logging. They have subcontracted the job to Columbia Helicopters of Portland OR, one of the world's biggest logging companies. Loggers from as far away as Montana have been brought in. And Silver Creek isn't milling either. The Roseburg News-Review reported that much of the timber will be going to Roseburg Forest Products.

RFP probably mills more public old-growth than any other company in the region. Mill owner Allyn Ford has parlayed his daddy's old-growth National Forest logging fortune into a NASDAQ-listed regional banking firm, Umpqua Bank. This, the most influential citizen of Douglas County was no doubt pleased when his county commissioners ponied up the cash to buy the science of Dr. John Sessions. Felled logs in Horse have "RF" written as destination on their butt ends.

How did a brand new, little company like Silver Creek come up with the millions of dollars needed to purchase Horse and two other Biscuit timber sales. A look at the financial records of owner John West won't help answer the question. West, his previous company, Westlands Contracting Inc. and even his parents all filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2000. He filed again in 2001 and was still fighting creditors in court as recently as this March. The business of Silver Creek Timber is without a track record, having been formed in August of last year.

Well, maybe not completely without a record. They did purchase a "hazard tree" Biscuit contract and logged it this summer. During that time they were suspended for illegal cutting across the Wilderness boundary. The area they logged also has more than one hundred stumps of green and black trees illegally cut in the Flat Top area they had just worked. A federal investigation of both incidents is underway.

It seems as though Silver Creek might have received some behind-the-scenes help from bigger players who wanted to keep a low profile. West admitted this was so in a recent interview.

Guns A' Smokin'

Roseburg Forest Products isn't the only connection to the Sessions report that opened the way for this largest timber sale project of all time. The first trees to be cut in Biscuit timber sales were cut by Columbia Helicopters. Soon after the Sessions report was released, retired Columbia Helicopter chief Wes Lematta and his wife Nancy made a one million dollar donation to Sessions' Oregon State College of Forestry. Now Columbia is cutting and removing six-foot diameter black trees and converting ancient forest ecosystem to first-year tree farm.

But that is not all that they are cutting. Every assertion about this project from the timber industry, the Forest Service, the Bush Administration and from Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) has included the promise that only black trees will be cut. But in Horse Unit #1, an area of only four acres, six old-growth green trees have been cut. The oldest, topping 170 years, was cut for no reason beyond profit. And their cutting is illegal.

And what was cut is not the only violation of law. There is also a question of when. The contract to log Horse calls for a suspension of operations on September 30. This clause is included to protect endangered Port Orford Cedar from a root disease that spreads easily via truck tires in wet weather. Port Orford Cedar is prevalent in the Horse area. Nonetheless, loggers were working through the first weeks of October in pouring rain. The Forest Service has refused requests for comments.

End In Sight?

Between a special logging program exempt from environmental review known as "hazard tree" logging and the Horse and Indi sales now being cut, we will have lost more than two square miles of our public ancient forest at Biscuit this summer. An additional 29 square miles of Biscuit logging is still planned! Like Horse it is probably destined for big mills hiding behind a false small business front.

If current practices continue, thousands of green trees, precious rare cedars and the most diverse National Forest in the West are all under threat. The wheels of justice are slow, but illegal practices like these eventually will be stopped by the courts.

Still, that leaves two problems. First, how much will already be destroyed by the time judges decide? Second, will success in the courts lead to a tougher fight in Congress?

Senator Gordon Smith is threatening legislation that would remove citizen rights to sue the timber companies or Forest Service to stop the Biscuit sales. All environmental laws would suddenly and completely be rendered unenforceable.

Interested people should prepare to act. Much of the public and political attention in the country is turned toward the upcoming elections. Whether we find ourselves facing four more years of George W. Bush or only 79 lame duck days we will need to marshal our efforts immediately after November 2 if Biscuit is to remain whole.

In the meantime, letters to Senators Smith, Wyden or others will help remind them that all of Biscuit needs protection. The Wild West days of lawless logging on our public lands must end. The logger millionaires need no more of our assets.

Burned forests are alive. If you haven't been to Biscuit, please travel there and see for yourself.

Posted by Oso at October 17, 2004 01:10 PM | Category(s): Biscuit Fire Campaign Forest Defense/Environmental Activism