If you can, come to the Siskiyous on February 5!
Massive rally in Selma, Oregon to Protect the Wild Siskiyou!
Saturday, February 5
Meet at the Selma Center at 10:00 am.
see o2collective.org for more info...
Greetings friends and allies-
This is the moment the Oxygen Collective and many others have been working to prevent. After more than a year of grassroots organizing, political lobbying and back and forth court battles, the forest service is taking advantage of a window of legal limbo to push through thousands of acres of destructive logging in remote old growth reserves in the Siskiyou Mountains.
Beginning March 22nd, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, will hear arguments to determine if this unprecedented intrusion into protected late-successional reserves is legal. In the weeks until then, they are planning to fell as many old trees as they can get away with. We are asking for our day in court before this criminal act against the public trust is allowed to proceed.
A public stand by Oregon's governor Ted Kulongoski or senior Senator Ron Wyden would pressure the Forest Service to wait until the court case is settled before allowing the historic precedent of commercial logging in habitat set aside to prevent the extinction of the spotted owl.
TAKE ACTION: Don't let the Forest Service get away with this outrageous, unfair behavior. Please take a few minutes and act to protect old growth forest reserves in the Siskiyou Mountains!
Call Oregon Senator Ron Wyden AND Governor Ted Kulongoski. If you live in his district, also contact Congressman Peter DeFazio.
If you live in California, call Senator Barbara Boxer AND Senator Diane Feinstein. See www.congress.org to find your Senators contact information.
Send a fax instantly at www.siskiyou.org.
Tell them to:
1. Publicly ask the Forest Service NOT to log old-growth reserves in the Siskiyou until the scheduled court case can be heard.
2. Create a Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Conservation Area to protect and restore this special part of Oregon for future generations.
Senator Ron Wyden
700 NE Multnomah St. Suite 450 Portland, OR 97232
Portland: (503) 326-7525
Washington DC:(202) 224-5244
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski
Phone: (503) 378-4582
160 State Capitol, 900 Court Street
Salem, Oregon 97301-4707
Congressman Peter DeFazio
151 West 7th, Suite 400 Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 465-6732
or toll-free in Oregon: 1-800-944-9603
Washington DC: (202) 225-6416
January 27, 2005.
The Forest Service is rushing to log thousands of acres of old-growth forest reserves in Siskiyou National Forest before a court can determine if the logging is illegal. The old growth reserves are in areas affected by the 2002 Biscuit Fire. Logging may start any day in these special places! In addition, old-growth legacy trees that are vital for wildlife are already being cut down in the Briggs Cedar timber sale on Squaw Mountain in the wild Siskiyou.
A court ordered injunction that prevented logging in seven Siskiyou timber sales has been lifted. As a result the Forest Service could soon move ahead with the Fiddler, Steed, Berry, Wafer, Hobson, Lazy, and Briggs Six logging sales. They are trying to ram through these sales before a court can rule on whether or not the logging is actually legal on March 22nd.
The Forest Service is already using snow plows and heavy equipment to clear the roads into these sales in their rush to log the old-growth trees before the court date!
MORE INFO:
The Bush Forest Service is planning to log 6,300 acres of old-growth reserves in the wild Siskiyou as part of the so-called "Biscuit Fire Recovery Project." Old-growth reserves are special places normally protected from logging to provide a safety net of habitat for sensitive wildlife species.
The seven logging sales mentioned above put many irreplaceable landscapes at risk. The Fiddler Mountain and Babyfoot Lake area, a beautiful place graced by native, unroaded forests, rare flowers, scenic views and wonderful hiking trails, is a prime example. It is also one of the areas most at risk of imminent logging. Near the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in southwestern Oregon's Siskiyou Wild Rivers area, Fiddler Mountain is loved by people locally and across the region.
The Bush Forest Service put Fiddler Mountain on the chopping block and sold it for a minimum, subsidized bid price. As a result, 14.7 million board feet of logging could take place across 697 acres of native forest at heavy taxpayer expense. As a whole, the Biscuit logging project is running far over budget, costing taxpayers much more than the Forest Service originally forecast. The larger Biscuit logging project threatens to cost taxpayers between $10 and $30 million.
In addition, the Forest Service is currently logging old-growth legacy trees on Squaw Mountain as part of the Briggs Cedar logging sale. The Forest Service has recently painted over orange "leave tree" markings on many of the largest trees in the area with blue "cut" paint. As a result, the Briggs Cedar logging sale suddenly includes much more old-growth legacy tree logging than when it was originally planned. Logging is proceeding despite wet weather conditions that may increase erosion and the threat of spreading the lethal Port-Orford-cedar root disease. For photos from Briggs Cedar, see www.kswild.org.
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