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Federal Court Affirms Old-Growth Timber Sale Illegal
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 28, 2004
Contacts: Brenna Bell (503) 796-7811
George Sexton (541) 488-5789
Medford, OR – Federal Court Judge Michael Hogan has just made a final decision to stop the Medford BLM's proposed Pickett Snake timber sale. A challenge to the mature and old-growth timber sale was brought by the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild) and other environmental groups last year.
“We support the BLM in many of its efforts to manage forests in southern Oregon, but destroying the last mature and old-growth forest is a practice that has to stop,” noted Brenna Bell, the KS Wild staff attorney who handled this case. “Old-growth logging is outdated and unnecessary and usually illegal, but the BLM continues to push it anyway.”
Judge Hogan found that the Pickett Snake sale, located on the southern border of the Wild and Scenic Rogue River west of Grants Pass, violated two federal laws that regulate public lands management. The sale would have impacted old-growth connected species such as the northern spotted owl, the clustered lady slipper, and the red tree vole. It would have also harmed water quality and fish habitat in the Pickett Creek watershed.
“This is just one more example of the BLM's pattern of pushing forward old-growth and roadless timber sales regardless of the law.” Bell notes that roadless forests on Buckhorn Mountain was a part of the timber sale. “The BLM should stop planning illegal timber sales that destroy Oregon’s wild public forests.”
Pickett Snake is very similar to Medford BLM’s Kelsey Whisky timber sale, in that they both border the Wild and Scenic Rogue River, and both target roadless old-growth forests for regeneration logging.
A regeneration timber sale is similar to a clearcut and often draws the ire of forest conservationists because it is a practice where the BLM leaves only 6-20 trees per acre. Kelsey Whisky is the site where the international environmental organization Greenpeace has set up the Nation’s first Forest Rescue Station. A similar station was set up in Tazmania in previous years.
“We hope the BLM's court loss in Pickett Snake is a harbinger of that to come for Kelsey Whisky,” noted George Sexton, KS Wild Conservation Director.
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Contacts: Brenna Bell (503) 796-7811
George Sexton (541) 488-5789
Medford, OR – Federal Court Judge Michael Hogan has just made a final decision to stop the Medford BLM's proposed Pickett Snake timber sale. A challenge to the mature and old-growth timber sale was brought by the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild) and other environmental groups last year.
“We support the BLM in many of its efforts to manage forests in southern Oregon, but destroying the last mature and old-growth forest is a practice that has to stop,” noted Brenna Bell, the KS Wild staff attorney who handled this case. “Old-growth logging is outdated and unnecessary and usually illegal, but the BLM continues to push it anyway.”
Judge Hogan found that the Pickett Snake sale, located on the southern border of the Wild and Scenic Rogue River west of Grants Pass, violated two federal laws that regulate public lands management. The sale would have impacted old-growth connected species such as the northern spotted owl, the clustered lady slipper, and the red tree vole. It would have also harmed water quality and fish habitat in the Pickett Creek watershed.
“This is just one more example of the BLM's pattern of pushing forward old-growth and roadless timber sales regardless of the law.” Bell notes that roadless forests on Buckhorn Mountain was a part of the timber sale. “The BLM should stop planning illegal timber sales that destroy Oregon’s wild public forests.”
Pickett Snake is very similar to Medford BLM’s Kelsey Whisky timber sale, in that they both border the Wild and Scenic Rogue River, and both target roadless old-growth forests for regeneration logging.
A regeneration timber sale is similar to a clearcut and often draws the ire of forest conservationists because it is a practice where the BLM leaves only 6-20 trees per acre. Kelsey Whisky is the site where the international environmental organization Greenpeace has set up the Nation’s first Forest Rescue Station. A similar station was set up in Tazmania in previous years.
“We hope the BLM's court loss in Pickett Snake is a harbinger of that to come for Kelsey Whisky,” noted George Sexton, KS Wild Conservation Director.
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