Activists hail end of salvage rider

Environmental activists in the Sisters country are hailing the expiration of the timber "salvage rider," though Sisters Ranger District personnel say the expiration will not affect projects in local forests.

Under the rider, the Forest Service has been allowed to conduct salvage logging without being subject to many of the usual environmental restrictions and citizen challenges. The rider expires on December 31, 1996.

Paul Dewey of Sisters Forest Planning Committee said the expiration of the salvage rider "can't help but be a good development for both the Forest Service and the conservation community."

Dewey believes that "the Forest Service has suffered a loss of credibility because of the confusion regarding what is really salvage -- whether they were cutting dead trees or green trees -- and the fact that they didn't have to follow environmental laws."

Other activists are relieved to see the end of the rider.

"I'm feeling more positive knowing that timber sales will once again be subject to the environmental laws that have been in place for years," said Susan Prince of the East Side Protection Project.

However, Rod Bonacker of the Sisters Ranger District said that "the expiration of the rider will affect few things region-wide, and nothing in this (Sisters area) forest."

The reason for this, Bonacker explained, is "there aren't any projects within this forest where we haven't been adhering to all applicable environmental laws," regardless of the leeway afforded the Forest Service by the salvage rider.

Tim Lillebo of Oregon Natural Resources Council believes people will feel the impact of the rider long after December 31.

Referring to the agency's latest plan to log north of Suttle Lake in an area designated a "late successional reserve," he said, "the salvage rider has inspired the Forest Service to go into an ancient forest reserve."

Environmental groups plan to keep a close eye on salvage logging projects in the area.

"For the next couple of years the Sisters Forest Planning Committee will be doing some fairly intensive monitoring of sales that were part of the salvage rider," Dewey said. "We want to see that the right trees are cut, that they left the right buffers, and adhered to boundaries."

Lillebo, Prince and Jessica Hamilton of the Western Ancient Forest Campaign in Portland agree that, because the rider is expiring, citizens will once again be able to challenge Forest Service plans.

"The public will be able to get involved and work with the Forest Service on a more detailed level to make sure that timber sales are environmentally sound," Hamilton said.

Effective after December 13, the Department of Agriculture Undersecretary James Lyons issued a directive ordering the Forest Service to stop proceeding with timber sales under the salvage rider. Lyons cited the controversial nature of the rider, as well as flaws in the program, as reasons for terminating the rider over two weeks before it was due to expire.

This means the Forest Service will not, absent "extraordinary circumstances," be able to take advantage of the expedited time frames allowed under the rider.

The Forest Service hopes to demonstrate extraordinary circumstances in the case of the Evans West timber sale, a fire salvage from last summer's fire in southeast Bend. If the agency cannot show this, the sale will take longer to finalize and the salvageable trees may lose some of their commercial value.