Wednesday, November 11, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Board boosts no-logging buffers
PORTLAND (AP) —
Forest officials have voted
to expand no-logging buffers
along streams on private tim-
berland in western Oregon to
keep water cool enough for
salmon.
The Oregon Board of
Forestry adopted the rules
on Thursday, despite pro-
tests from logging interests.
Riparian zone buffers would
increase to 80 feet on medium-
sized streams and 60 feet on
small streams, with the option
to not cut any trees or to do
thinning on part of the buffer.
The new rules won’t apply
in the Siskiyou region, which
was left out of the buffer
expansion.
Currently trees must be left
uncut 20 feet from streams on
private timberland — though
some additional feet are
required where a number of
trees must be maintained.
Removing too many trees
leads streams to warm up,
which can harm cold-water
fish like salmon, steelhead,
and bull trout. Logging
near streams also eliminates
downed logs, which help cre-
ate deep pools for salmon to
escape predators and hide
from the heat.
The bigger the no-logging
buffers, the more shade, but
the greater the economic
impact on timberland owners.
Conservationists for years
have been trying to get the
board to boost the current buf-
fers of 20 feet to 100 feet in
order to meet the cold water
standard. In recent years,
record hot temperatures and
drought have killed fish.
Earlier this year, federal
regulators ruled that Oregon
logging rules do not suffi-
ciently protect fish and water
in western Oregon from pol-
lution caused by clear-cutting
too close to streams, runoff
form old logging roads, and
other problems.
The Board of Forestry con-
sidered two proposals. One
would have increased no-cut
buffer zones to 90 feet, while
the other would have left buf-
fers unchanged, but would
have require approaches such
as thinning, sun-sided buffers
or staggering harvests. The
newly adopted rules were a
compromise between the two.
“We feel it’s a modest step
Paying it forward...
We feel it’s a modest
step in the right direction,
but we’re concerned it
doesn’t go far enough.
— Bob Van Dyk
Timber companies said the
buffer increase would have
big economic effects and is
too expensive for loggers.
Kristina McNitt, president of
the Oregon Forest Industries
Council, said the organization
sees the new logging restric-
tions as political and arbitrary.
The group represents private
timberland owners.
“There is no evidence
that modern forest practices
harm fish,” McNitt said in a
statement.
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in the right direction, but we’re
concerned it doesn’t go far
enough,” said Bob Van Dyk
with the Wild Salmon Center.
Van Dyk said the new small
stream buffers still won’t meet
legal requirements to protect
cold water for salmon.
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