On Monday October 4th, loggers arriving at the Horse Timber Sale were greeted by a surprise road blockade. An occupied tripod and 30 forest defenders stopped logging for at least 6 hours. A large slash pile was the first line of defense, followed by the 30 forest defenders holding a sign that read Logging is Not Restoration. Behind the soft blockade an occupied tripod carried a banner that read "Give Back the Forest." Further up the road other slash and rock piles blocked the way. One slash pile was decorated with a banner reading "Ancient Forests Need Fire."
Loggers first arrived around 6 am. Other than telling the activists not to pet their dogs, the interaction was fairly non-confrontational. We were told that if we didn't mess with their equipment or property, they wouldn't mess with ours. Sometime between 8 and 9 am, many of these loggers were sent away after the arrival of the owner of Silver Creek Lumber, John West (Mr. West incidentally wasdecked out in a white Nike shirt and birkenstocks). I am unclear where these loggers were sent. Their saws were trapped in the unit behind the road blockade, and I am unaware of any other way into that unit.
Around 9 am a very dangerous situation arose and the tripod sitter returned to the ground. This action was taken todiffuse a situation that was escalating quickly and becoming violent (on the part of the logger and an unidentified driver who was not with the loggers), specifically putting the life of the person in the tripod in danger. While earlier in the morning, the loggers had been fairly respectful, the small group that remained after the arrival of the purchaser were increasingly hostile and violent. The protestors remained non-violent and continually attempted to de-escalate the situation. At one point a logger pushed two people off of the road with a log while removing the slash pile. After it became apparent that it was not safe for someone to be in the blockade, many people jumped into the road and held a sitting blockade in front of the vehicles to prevent their entrance. This occurred while two loggers were violently going at the various slash piles and being very threatening. At one point, one logger almost punched a protestor for taking his photo. One Forest Service LEO vehicle arrived around 9:15-9:30 am. One fellow was arrested and charged with Interfering with an Agricultural Operation. His arraignment was this morning and I don't know what happened there. There were no other arrests.
Although road side salvage logging has been going on in the Biscuit Sale, Horse is the first timber sale to be logged as part of Biscuit. The Horse sale is in the Game Lake area on the Northwest corner of the Kalmiposis Wilderness. Logging began on Thursday September 30th and continued throughout the weekend. The company logging it is Silver Creek , headed by John West of Merlin. Silver Creek is the same company suspended earlier this year from illegally logging in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. This company is under federal investigation for setalling more than 100 trees this year in the Flat Top area. Additionally, Silver Creek is a front group for everyone's favorite company: Roseburg Forest Products. Horse contains significant stands of green, ancient Port Orford Cedar. Because this tree is being driven to extinction by a root disease spread by logging, operations were supposed to stop by October 1st. Obviously, the logging is continuing despite the stipulations in the contract.
The Weekend of Oct 1st-4th the National Forest Protection Alliance held their annual convention in Southern Oregon, bringing in forest defenders from across the nation. On Monday morning, three events occurred in solidarity with ending the Biscuit Salvage Sale. While the loggers were discovering the road blockade out at the Horse Timber Sale, dozens of activists were canvassing across Selma, Oregon talking to people and businesses about the Biscuit Sale and the Fire Salvage Hoax. At noon, over a hundred people gathered for a rally against the Sale at Grants Pass.
|
On Thursday, logging was still continuing, despite P.O.C. restrictions. I spent the day overlooking the timber sale; I saw more helicopter yarding than chainsaw activity.
Last night rain swept into the area (catching me by surprise where I slept without a tent), and still the loggers returned this morning. I'm not sure if the P.O.C. restriction is for felling or for operation of any kind. At any rate, a dozen or so pickups passed me as I headed out of the Round Timber Sale area this morning. It was raining heavily throughout the morning, and conditions were excellent for the spread of Port Orford Cedar Root Disease (Phytophthora lateralis). The fungus-like root disease spreads primarily through road stream-crossings. In these wet areas, the spores of the organism can be deposited by tires carrying them from an infected area, and they quickly move downstream infecting an entire watershed.
Obviously, the root disease is just one concern of many in this latest Forest Service hand-out to the timber industry. Helicopters lifted one large tree after another out of the forest, badly damaging the recovery process in this area of the Biscuit Fire.