Forest Service Logs, Then Burns Ancient Forest
In 2005, unit 43 of the Sten Timber Sale on the McKenzie River watershed was the site of yet another chapter in the ongoing protest against old growth logging. Local activists made a valiant effort to save one of the few pristine old growth ecosystems left in the McKenzie watershed by setting up treesits.
Freres Lumber responded with hired thugs who repeatedly visited the treesits and issued death threats, firing both live ammunition and razor sharp broadhead arrows at protestors. Forest Service law enforcement personnel did nothing to pursue these criminals, instead concentrating on harassing the protestors and issuing petty citations. For more information, go to www.eugeneweekly.com/2005/09/22/coverstory.html.
One activist lived on a small platform in the upper canopy for over two months, while loggers endangered his life by falling trees around him. Hired climbers and Forest Service personnel threatened to physically remove him. During his extended stay in an old growth tree, "Katrina", the Forest Service stole his bicycle, trailer, identity papers, and all his possessions.
"Katrina" is now dead. Eighty-five percent of the trees in the project are either standing dead or blackened stumps. According to a Forest Service spokesperson, a "prescribed burn", started with drip torches by Forest Service personnel, got out of hand "when the wind shifted". The Forest Service inadvertently "missed its target" of 10 to 20 percent mortality. Seventy percent of the trees that remained after logging were killed by the fire. The destruction of a once healthy forest ecosystem is now complete.
What is next for unit 43 of the Sten timber sale? Salvage logging?
|
