O2 on NPR and New York Times Speaking Out For the Forests

The Oxygen Collective appears today in a story about Roadless Area logging at the Mike's Gulch timber sale on NPR's nationally syndicated program All Things Considered.

To Listen online:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5691875

We also added our name to a half page ad in the New York Times by Greenpeace calling out the shameful logging practices promoted by the corporation Kimberly Clark.

To view the ad and learn about this important campaign, visit:

www.kleercut.net

States Sue Federal Gov't Over Forest Protections

by Martin Kaste

All Things Considered, August 22, 2006 · Logging has begun on the largest area of roadless forest in the state of Oregon, and the state's government is fuming. When the Bush administration reversed the ban on building new roads on now roadless federal lands, it agreed to let the states decide which areas should remain protected, and which should be open to activities such as road-building, mining and oil and gas exploration. But the federal government is allowing logging in Oregon and energy development in Colorado before either state has finished its plan for the roadless lands. Five states have gone to court in protest of the actions.

Oregonians: Speak Out for Roadless!

****ACTION ALERT****

Governor's Roadless Area Workshop
Wednesday, August 16 at 6 p.m.
Medford City Hall, 411 W. Eighth St.

A chance to speak out for Oregon's priceless roadless areas.
Be heard! Defend what you love!

Please show up early wearing your 'Roadless is Priceless' t-shirt if you have one.
Let's fill the front rows with roadless supporters.

Resistance to Roadless Logging Escalates as Protesters Blockade Bridge Leading to the Nation's First Roadless Area Timber Sale

A daring predawn road blockade in the Siskiyou National Forest this August halted logging at the site of the first ever incursion into protected Roadless forest. Mike’s Gulch in the Biscuit Burn is the first victim of Bush’s long-sought elimination of the 2001 Roadless Conservation Rule.

A lashed log maneuvered into a cantilever position across the road stopped vehicle traffic from crossing the Green Bridge over the Illinois River, preventing access to the controversial timber sale. Laurel Sutherlin of the Oxygen Collective hung from the end of the log in a pod suspended over the river below. A small army of county, state and federal law enforcement issued an ‘emergency closure’ for ‘public safety’ then contracted a climber who nervously proceeded with a sketchy extraction plan that involved connecting the dangling pod to a pulley and lowering Laurel and the pod into the river.

This dramatic action follows years of lawsuits, rallies, public comment periods and national media attention involving tens of thousands of people speaking out against the logging of the Biscuit fire area. Nearly 2 million people submitted comments to protect our nation's roadless areas before the Biscuit fire and over 20,000 citizens submitted public comments opposing the Biscuit logging when it was proposed. Since then, almost 100 arrests have resulted from a community-supported civil disobedience campaign protesting the massive logging project.

The day before this latest road blockade was erected, over 100 people rallied at the Forest Service headquarters in Medford, OR, with the message “Roadless is Priceless!” The event culminated with a dozen activists from across Oregon sitting down in the road in front of the federal building. Thirteen people were arrested and eleven spent the night in jail on charges of disorderly conduct.

World-class salmon habitat was logged in the Biscuit the same week the Feds declared the salmon fisheries in Oregon and California a national disaster and pledged millions in aid to now out of work fishermen. This despite recent studies showing that Mike’s Gulch, now four years after the fire, is naturally regenerating seedlings to the degree that it meets federal guidelines for restocking of conifers. This public lands timber sale is a quarter of a million dollar subsidy to the timber industry, paid for by the American taxpayer, with a fully loaded log truck going cheaper than a cord of firewood sells locally.

A lawsuit against the Bush Administration by the governors of Oregon, California, Washington and New Mexico is one of four unsettled cases seeking to retain roadless area protections while logging moves forward.

The public process that lead to the creation of the original Roadless Rule, which protects 58.5 million acres of the most wild and pristine public lands remaining in the United States from destructive practices like logging and mining, involved more citizen input than any other federal regulation on any issue in the history of this country. Despite this overwhelming public support for protection of roadless areas, the Bush Administration has aggressively pursued stripping the protections it provides by opening these areas up to massive commercial timber harvest and hundreds of thousands of acres of oil and mineral exploration.

Mike’s Gulch, in the South Kalmiopsis Roadless Area was an obvious candidate for Wilderness protection. Next up for destruction is the equally incredible Blackberry area in North Kalmiopsis Roadless Area.

Local media surrounding this latest series of actions ran headlines focusing on the activist’s use of a freshly cut small diameter tree for use in the action, while editorials in regional papers questioned the ethics and effectiveness of using arrests in a calculated effort to bring attention to the issue. Continuing conversations in public and private are further stimulating a nuanced dialog taking place in the local activist community.

Reflections about where to go from here and how to maintain the strength of our opposition to the Bush Administration’s all out assault on our public lands without alienating the broad base of public support we have carefully built on this issue are among the many layers of discussion taking place. There is a growing sentiment that we need a wholesale reevaluation in the forest defense movement of how to best direct our efforts on behalf of the earth to the achieve the protections of wildlands we seek.

Meanwhile, national media have almost completely failed to cover these first roadless incursions. Word needs to get out now. Roadless forest shouldn’t fall without continuing resistance.

"This assault on our public lands is a disaster for the forest, a taxpayer rip off and it's against the will of the vast majority of the American people. It is the result of a broken democracy and I am taking this action today to jumpstart the system of checks and balances that is supposed to protect us from the tyranny of an authoritarian government so this doesn't happen again." Said Laurel hanging from the bridge.

Nation's First Roadless Logging Began Today; Unprecedented Action Ignites Protest

The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest began logging today in a roadless forest that was protected by the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule which protected 58 million acres of public forest from industrial logging, and road-building. The Bush administration is now logging roadless forests, despite massive public opposition and a pending court cases challenging the logging.

More than 100 citizens from across the country attended a rally in front of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest office in Medford today to protest the first logging of Roadless Areas. A dozen people with shirts reading "Roadless is Priceless" sat down in a road in front of the Forest Service office with potted trees. This resulted in twelve arrests, with charges still pending.

Kate Ritley a concerned citizen stated while being arrested that "There is nothing more precious than the wild and scenic forest of the Pacific Northwest. And today by the Bush administration cutting into Roadless Area's they are setting a national precedent that defies the will of the public and puts millions of acres across America at risk. I'm putting myself on the front line to take a stand against the Bush Administrations assault on America's forests."

"When the government ignores the will of the people, the people have to stand up," said Laurel Sutherlin. "Such civil disobedience provides a critical check and balance against corruption in a democracy. Actions like those taken today carry on in the rich tradition of defending American democracy inspired by figures like Henry David Thoreau and Rosa Parks."

The original Roadless Rule enjoyed unprecedented public involvement and support. In 2005, the Bush administration replaced the Roadless Rule with a watered-down version that erodes protections for wildlands. The states of Oregon, Washington, Californian and New Mexico are now suing the Bush administration to restore the 2001 Roadless Rule.

After repealing the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in 2005, Bush Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey promised interim protection for roadless areas while governors submitted petitions for protection, but broke that promise when he ordered logging at Mike's Gulch before the Governors' petitioning process was complete. Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has scheduled an August 16th hearing on the issue in Medford. A lawsuit filed on behalf of roadless protections by the Governors of New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, the Attorney General of California and numerous conservation groups, is pending in federal court.

Some participants in today's rally pointed out that the Mike's Gulch roadless timber sale sold for a price far below any anticipated in Forest Service planning documents, costing millions of taxpayer dollars.

"Washington, D.C. pretends to listen to the public, but their actions speak louder than words. Bush's Forest Service broke its promise to the American people, while allowing corporate interests increased access to our remote public lands." said Lesley Adams.

Undam the Klamath! A Reportback from Portland

In solidarity with the Yurok, Karuk, and Klamath tribes, o2 collective members traveled with a dozen supporters to Portland on August 2 to participate in a large march and demonstration at a hydropower convention. The tribes have long sought the removal of four dams on the Klamath river that block passage for salmon and threaten their cultural survival. The event brought national attention to an issue that has been simmering in the Klamath basin for many years. o2 is proud to continue supporting the efforts of the tribes to "bring the salmon home" and "undam the Klamath!"