The Glendale Resource Area of the Medford BLM released an Environmental Assessment for the Cotton Snake timber sale in June 2003, proposing hundreds of acres of ancient forest logging. Cotton Snake is one in a line of several old growth timber sales on the Glendale Resource Area. In the same watershed, some of the Mr. Wilson sale was logged this spring, cutting down groves of 400 year old Douglas fir trees in the headwaters of Cow Creek, which flows into the Umpqua river in southern Oregon. These sales are just over the ridge from the Kelsey Whisky sale, which proposes hundreds of acres of ancient forest clearcutting in the largest forested BLM roadless area in the country: the Zane Grey along the Wild and Scenic Rogue River.

Cotton Snake will impact 14 pairs of northern spotted owl, build up to 3 miles of new logging road and cut trees over 5 feet wide. While the logging of old growth forests in spotted owl critical habitat is not new for the Glendale Resource Area of the BLM, this sale is unique. This is the first time since the implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan that a forest management agency has failed to look for and protect the Oregon red tree vole. The red tree vole is a rare, old growth dependent rodent that lives in the tops of old growth trees and is a favored food source for the northern spotted owl. Protecting the red tree vole often means protecting ancient forests, so the BLM is pretending they don't exist.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Visit Cotton Snake and other old-growth sales in the Klamath-Siskiyou region. Call the KS Wild office for maps and our hike schedule.