News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Plans for salvage logging near Jack Canyon and along the highway between Suttle Lake and the top of Santiam Pass have sparked a voluble response from the public. Letters written to the Sisters Ranger District indicate that people have strong -- and very different -- feelings about the two projects.
Letters to the district strongly favor salvage logging along the Santiam Corridor where large stands of dead white fir are visible from Highway 20.
"I guess I was surprised at that," Forest Service landscape architect Rick Dustin reflected. He said comments on projects usually run from extremes of pro-logging and leave-it-alone positions to a wide ranging middle ground.
Out of some 90-100 letters received so far, Dustin said, approximately 85-90 percent favor cutting down all or most of the dead white fir. He said fear of fire was cited frequently as a major concern, particularly on a forest service-prepared questionnaire that asked what people felt about prescribed burning and the possibility of a catastrophic wildfire.
The district is developing treatment alternatives for the 7,000-acre area.
According to Hurlocker, comments on the Jack Canyon proposal have been "just about the opposite. We've got about 50 letters and out of that all but about three want us to back way off."
The proposed action on Jack Creek would cover approximately 4,000 acres in the Metolius River Basin and include some large (over 40 acre) clear-cuts and thinning of some green stands where the district believes tree density is too high for health.
District Ranger Karen Shimamoto chose the most aggressive of three treatment proposals for the area because, she said, it provides the strongest basis for recovery of the forest.
Critics have attacked the proposal, saying that logging creates runoff and flood risks that threaten bull trout spawning areas and poses a threat to soil conditions.
Jack Canyon project manager Ron Archuleta told The Nugget that 366 units have been dropped out of consideration for the timber sale because of such concerns. He said the district is "still doing analysis on the effects of the floods and potential impacts to bull trout in Jack Creek that could result in additional modification of the selected alternative."
Hurlocker pointed out that, while the district only asked for general comments about the Santiam Corridor, the Jack Canyon proposal is a specific plan for action, which might account for some of the divergence in comments between the two projects. It might be illustrative, he said, to compare comments after a treatment alternative is adopted for the Santiam Corridor. The district will present three alternatives at a meeting Monday, March 25 at 7 p.m. at the district office.
Still, as Shimamoto noted, vegetation in the areas are very similar and the treatments would be much the same, both involving extensive clear cutting and a timber sale -- yet the public seems to favor one project while disliking the other.
Hurlocker believes the special nature of the Metolius Basin makes people especially sensitive to any proposals for the area.
"There's a lot of people who have an interest and care a lot about that area," Hurlocker noted. "There are people who have been going there since they were knee high and learned to fly-fish in that river."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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