From the open publishing newswire: Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project has been fighting a really flagrant "post-fire salvage" timber sale in Eastern Oregon that is anything but. The really burned areas are just outside the boundaries of the sale, but inside the sale, well, that's what this article is about.

In the summer of 2002, a light ground fire burned through the Malheur National Forest near the Strawberry Wilderness. In small pockets the fire reached the tops of the trees and scorched their crowns. But for the most part, the fire, known as High Roberts, burned through the understory and left the old growth Ponderosa pine, Grand fir and Western larch to live on with only a little surface damage on their base.

Nonetheless, the Forest Service decided the forest needed to be managed. So they pulled a shiny arrow from their quiver of newly-minted Healthy Forest Initiative rules. The rule the Forest Service selected allows salvage logging of dead and dying trees and categorically excludes this kind of salvage project from environmental review or meaningful citizen input. The problem with the project is that the Old growth trees at High Roberts were still live and healthy two years after the fire and they were quite unlikely to die anytime soon.

From the open publishing newswire: Oregon's first publicly acknowledged contamination by a genetically engineered organism occurs in Madras area from Roundup Herbicide resistant Creeping Bentgrass destined to be used on 17,000 golf courses in the US. This is a product we do not need, it is an aggressively spread plant either through pollen or vegatatively through its rhizomes and easily crosses with many other grasses. This GE grass threatens to destroy the 3rd largest agricultural market in Oregon - our Willamette valley grass seed industry. The comment period was extended to December 2nd, this Thursday, possibly to allow the industry to catch up to the nearly 700 comments we've helped generate so far. If you are reading this, please send in your comments.

[ NW Resistance Against Genetic Engineering ]

From the open publishing newswire: Over 120 supporters of John Kerry for President rallied outside the Pendleton Convention Center during VP Cheney and Gordon Smith's visit one day after the RNC. "We wanted to show the world that Eastern Oregon is not solidly in the Republican's pocket," said rally organizer, Benjamin Talley.

Don Butcher, one of the marchers, responded after the rally, "I was deeply moved today by the more than one hundred people showing up to demonstrate that a substantial population in our area demand that we move beyond the politics of militancy, cronyism, monotheism, etc., to an America of vision, wisdom, equality and inclusivity."

As the Cheney meeting ended, many attendees leaving the Convention Center walked across the parking lot to join the Kerry supporters lining the street. The gathering reflected the diversity of Eastern Oregon -- retired folks, young people in dredlocks beating drums, Native Americans in tribal regalia, veterans, working people, professional people, young mothers and their children, and high school students.

From the open publishing newswire: The PROWL Project is springing into action to bring new energy to forest conservation east of the Cascade crest. "PROWL" is the acronym for a nice long name: Protecting and Restoring Oregon Wild Lands. We are based in Bend and engage in forest watch and public outreach activities to protect the Ochoco and Deschutes National Forests. Our goal is to pounce on (and stop!) proposed public lands projects that are likely to degrade native ecosystems and to support ecological restoration.

The PROWL Project was recently initiated in the Bend area to increase the number of people working on forest protection issues. We are engaed in forest watch activities on the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests. These areas are currently covered by the Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project (BMBP), a small but very effective group which has been working to protect eastside forests for the last 11 years. Additionally, BMBP covers legal monitoring for the Malheur and Umatilla national forests, as well as the Prineville BLM district. This is a huge workload, considering that most westside forest groups focus on one national forest...and still never run out of work to do!!

The current forest watch activities of PROWL include keeping up to date on public lands projects, submitting comments during the planning process for proposed projects, and ground truthing out in the forest. We hope to move into initiating or signing on to appeals and litigation when those means are necessary to stop bad projects, which can often involve logging, mining, herbicide and pesticide spraying, predator extermination, and cell phone tower construction. We will also be engaged in public outreach activities in Bend and other places throughout the northwest and working to collaborate with other conservation groups in central and eastern Oregon, as well as folks from the westside. As a group that's just getting started, we are of course needing all kinds of help.

From the open publishing newswire: Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project (BMBP) has asked that we pass on a series of timber sale field checking opportunities that volunteers are needed for. Give them a call at 541-385-9167 to express your interest. Be sure to call in advance far enough for someone to call you back, since they are in the field a lot. Also be aware that the later you come, the more likely it is we will encounter snow.

This is a great way to learn about eastern Oregon forest ecology and genuinely help stop massive timber sales in both green forest and burned areas. BMBP has a great record of busting law-breaking federal agencies and stopping destructive logging, but they really need volunteers to walk the ground and the timber sales are typically much larger than those found in western Oregon. [ Here are the dates ]

From the open publishing newswire: If you're at all familiar with their work, you need to speak up now. Blue Mountains is under attack in the Central Oregon press right as they have launched an appeal on one of the most important timber sales of the year.

In the wake of the B & B Complex fires that broke out right before President Bush came to town, and many sources, including some official ones, are declaring as deliberate, blatant, arson, Blue Mountains is getting hammered in the local press, right as they are appealing one of the most important timber sales of the year, the vast Metolius Basic project. Blue Mountains isn't alone in opposing the Metolius, but a lot of other local groups that haven't been surveying the area for the last year have caved into the Forest Service plan. Front page articles are quoting the Forest Service as gospel, while the editorials and letters are brimming over with misinformation and hateful rhetoric about environmental extremists. Keep in mind that this is a region where just "environmentalist" is a bad word.

There are two things that need to happen in response. The papers attacking Blue Mountains need to get letters to the editor in response, and people need to come to the Forest Service negotiation hearing in Sisters, for which 40 opposition parties have already registered their intent to come. That hearing has not been scheduled yet, but you can find out more by leaving a message at (541) 385-9167.

From the open publishing newswire: From the open publishing newswire: Hood River County is proposing a destination resort zoning ordinance. The ordinance will include a map showing where a new destination resort zone could potentially allow a destination resort. The ordinance provides direction to the County Planning Commission, Staff and Board of County Commissioners on how the new zoning category will protect and enhance economic, natural, historic, scenic, farm and forest and other resources.

The County Planning Commission is asking citizens and groups for input to make improvements to the proposal. While there are some good aspects to the proposal, the ordinance and map as proposed are woefully inadequate. Due to major omissions, the ordinance in its current form will not protect significant County resources we all hold dear. The map also contains inaccuracies and omissions. Resorts approved under the current ordinance could harm the ailing economy and agricultural economic base. COMMENTS TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION MUST BE RECEIVED BY WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.
[ Details and Sample Comment ]

From the open publishing newswire: From the open publishing newswire: For both hearings, there were 200+ folks from the Hood River communities & Portland present who oppose this plan by Meadows' Corporation to convince Hood River County that it needs a 450-unit destination resort on the N. side of Mt. Hood. The Cooper Spur Wild and Free Coalition, including organizers in Portland and other areas, adamantly opposes any further environmental devastation to Mt. Hood when it is really just because of corporate greed at the expense of regular working class folks.

There have been so many people at the first two hearings who have not yet gotten a chance to speak, that another hearing is scheduled before the Hood River Planning Commission for Wed., Feb., 5th, 7:30 p.m. at the Hood River Middle School again. As it was, each night the hearings went on until 11 p.m. (see Calendar & Story for more info.)

After several presenters with background information, testimony began both on 1/22 & 1/23. Personal best-estimates say that 3/4's of the testifiers both nights were OPPOSED to this resort---for many various reasons. [ Read More... ]

More on first hearing: [ Story | streaming audio (~15 min.) ]

Third Public Hearing set for Feb. 5
This is the 3rd Public Hearing to be held about Mount Hood Meadows plan to place a 450-unit destination resort with a mega-ski facility and golf course at Cooper Spur on the North Side of Mount Hood. This proposed destination resort would destroy the last wild and free areas of Mount Hood. This is the community's chance to say loud and clear - NO! Together we can save the mountain, bioregional agriculture, some of the best water anywhere, and valley life.

Wednesday, February 5, 2003 @ 7:30 PM. Sign in for testimony will be at 6:30 PM. Folks should plan on arriving early. Driving time from Portland varies with traffic. Plan on 1 1/2 hours. [ Read More... ]

[ Cooper Spur Wild and Free Coalition ]

From the open publishing newswire: From the open publishing newswire: "In Congress, Jim Hansen, Chair of the House Committee on 'Resources' stated that '6 million acres of forest was destroyed by fires'. This inanely innacurate acreage figure was derived from totaling the perimeter acres from this season's fires across the country. Contrary to this fabricated and intentionally distorted hype, the actual acres burned are much less. Additonally, most of the acres burned in Oregon, burned as beneficial understory fires.

"[On September 1] representatives of the Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project flew over 7 fires in Eastern and Central Oregon. We photo and video documented the actual impacts of the burns. The photos you see here are from all 7 fires (actually 8 total as two fires on the Strawberry Wilderness area burned together). The photos clearly show, not fire scorched lands of desolation and destruction, but what actually occurred: a mostly green forest mosaic of small scorched areas combined with primarily beneficial underburns. Our surveys also found that areas of forest which were 'thinned' by commercial logging, as well as areas with huge clear-cut 'fuel-breaks' burned the most severely."

[ Story and Photos: Part 1 | Part 2 ]