Logging on B&B could start this week

Last updated Aug 16, 2005 12:0pm0

Jim Fisher count

Protesters waved signs and staged a skit claiming the B&B Fire was arson.

Logging of fire-killed timber from the 2003 B&B Complex Fire could start as early as this week.

Three timber sales sold August 9, according to Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony.

“We had some spirited bidding for the three sales,” Anthony said. “Unless we have legal action delaying the logging, the companies who purchased the timber by auction last week could begin logging.”

The sales drew an organized protest at Sisters Ranger District headquarters on Pine Street on Monday morning (see story, page 15).

Three sales totaling 37 million board feet were sold for $3.8 million just seven days after Deschutes Forest Supervisor Leslie Weldon signed a Record of Decision calling for the sales.

The Booth Sale and the Butte Sale were purchased by International Forest Products of Vancouver, B.C. (Interior) who now own and operate the former Crown Pacific mill at Gilchrist.

The Little Sale was purchased by Boise Building Solutions of Boise, Idaho.

“The volume to be salvaged was higher than we first estimated,” Anthony said. “We had estimated there would be a 40 percent loss of value due to deterioration from insects and disease, but that loss turned out to be only 20 percent. That 20 percent loss is still significant in terms of lost volume of wood and revenue needed to fund the restoration of the area.”

To avoid loss of salvage volume and value from the fire-killed timber, Weldon requested in early July an Emergency Situation Determination from Stay. Pacific Northwest Regional Forester Linda Goodman approved that request, permitting the Forest Service to immediately offer the salvage sales without additional delays.

Plans call for salvage harvest, fuels reduction and reforestation on about 6,803 acres in the Metolius Basin area west of Sisters. This is 16 percent of the total project area and 7 percent of the entire burn area. Work will be done in 142 scattered units.

A lawsuit was filed last Thursday by the Cascadia Wildlands Project, the Oregon Natural Resources Council, the League of Wilderness Defenders — Blue Mountain Diversity project, the Sierra Club and the Sisters Forest Planning Committee challenging the Forest Service plans and the decision to offer the sales.

Protesters slam B&B timber sales

Over 30 people waved signs along the roadside and staged a skit called “Light It, Fight It, Log It” at the Sisters Ranger Station on Monday morning, August 15.

They were there to protest timber sales held last week to salvage fire-killed timber from the 2003 B&B Complex Fire west of Sisters.

During their two hours at the station, protesters displayed a cross-section of an old-growth log, offered a little political theater and displayed banners to passing motorists seeking their support in opposing the sales.

Their efforts seemed to attract only two or three individuals that did not arrive with the group. A few motorists honked as they drove past to show their support, but none stopped to view the presentation.

“We have organized an event here today that has folks from Bend, Eugene, and Portland gathered to protest the B&B fire timber sale,” said Joe Keating, coordinator of the protest and a Portland resident who has been a “forest protection activist” for the past 20 years.

“There are several problems that we are protesting,” he said. “It starts with the fact that the initial fire cause was most probably arson. The Oregon Wildlife Federation put together a report that indicated that was the cause. That needs to be investigated since it was the background when President Bush was to visit here to promote his Healthy Forests Initiative.

“Then, in addition to that, there is the biology of the situation where the Forest Service is going into some of these forests and clear cutting, rather then just thinning where it is appropriate.”

Most of the comments by speakers focused on the cause of the fire. The protesters believe it was arson, rather than a holdover lightning fire as determined by investigators.

The protest was a peaceful one. Several Forest Service law enforcement personnel and deputy sheriffs were on hand, but were not highly visible.

District Ranger Bill Anthony greeted Keating. They walked through the ranger station compound where Anthony explained where protesters could gather so as not to disrupt employees or the public visiting the ranger station. Signs clearly indicated areas closed to anyone but employees.

Once the event was underway, protesters in tree costumes displayed signs as they stood on the highway shoulder to get public attention. The brief skit was held on the lawn in front of the American flag.