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FIRE
continued from page 1
network dedicated to education, ad
vocacy and protection of the Klamath
and Siskiyou National Forests. "There
were rumors of one about that big in
the 1930s, but that was before envi
ronmental laws."
What's at stake
On March 19, the Forest Service re
leased a proposed action letter to the
public suggesting 96 million board
feet of logging that would stay within
areas designated for timber use.
The official Draft Environmental
Impact Statement, or DEIS, that fol
lowed was released in November
and included the original proposed
action. The statement — required
under the guidelines of the Nation
al Environmental Policy Act, or
NEPA — gives seven possible cours
es of action the Forest Service could
take regarding the area. Included in
these possibilities is one Forest Ser
vice "preferred alternative," as well
as a "no action" plan that would
leave the land untouched.
Option No. 7, the Forest Service's
preferred alternative, suggests 518 mil
lion board feet of logging across 29,090
acres of land, more than five times the
amount of its proposed action from
March, which is option No. 2.
Option No. 6, the most extreme
proposal contained in the statement,
calls for 1.02 billion board feet of log
ging — enough to fill a line of logging
trucks 2,700 miles long, according to
the Siskiyou Project.
Skar said the impact statement was
significantly delayed and was origi
nally set to be released in July, adding
that the statement is full of errors,
which may challenge the legality of
the proposal.
"Right now, I believe (the Forest
Service's) proposal is not only ex
treme, but illegal," he said.
Biscuit Fire Forest Service spokes
woman Judy McHugh said the Biscuit
impact statement was delayed because
a 66-page report about the original pro
posed action — released through Ore
gon State University after the 30-day
public comment period had expired —
stated that the agency had not consid
ered all possible alternatives.
"We recognized that our statement
hadn't looked at the full range, so we
went back and did so," McHugh said.
Activists speak out
Some environmental activists still
feel the current proposal would have
serious repercussions.
The Oregon Natural Resources
Council released a 200-page DEIS cri
tique that was submitted to the Forest
Service during the 60-day public com
ment period, which expired Jan. 20.
ONRC Western Oregon Field Rep
resentative Doug Heiken said he au
thored a summary of the report that
focuses on the Forest Service's pre
ferred alternative. The truncated ver
sion of the critique claims any sal
vage logging would remove the least
flammable portion of the trees while
leaving behind the most flammable,
and more than 10,000 acres of non
inventoried roadless areas would
not be protected or recognized un
der the NEPA process.
While McHugh declined to com
ment specifically on ONRC's report,
she said there may be errors in the
DEIS but it contains nothing illegal.
"The agency feels their analysis is
the best possible effort they can do,"
she said. The preferred alternative of
the Forest Service DEIS calls for
12,179 acres of roadless area log
ging, in spite of the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule signed into law
by President Clinton in January
2000, which protected 58.5 million
acres of national forest land from
most types of commercial logging
and road building.
On Dec. 12, the U.S. Court of Ap
peals for the 9th Circuit ruled to pro
tect the roadless rule after its imple
mentation had been blocked by an
Idaho judge in May 2001. An U.S.
District Court in Wyoming over
turned the rule in July 2003, holding
it in violation of NEPA and the
Wilderness Act.
Heiken said the Forest Service is re
lying on a state-level ruling for the
Siskiyou DEIS.
'They're basically acting like the road
less rule doesn't apply when it does," he
said. "That's a huge legal problem."
However, McHugh said the rule
was no longer in effect because of the
Wyoming ruling.
"They may want to believe that the
federal court in Wyoming doesn't
have jurisdiction elsewhere," she said.
"But the Forest Service's interpretation
at this time is that we're back to our
standards. And so is every other na
tional forest."
An uncertain future
On Sept. 18, the Bush administra
tion announced plans to develop new
rules governing the 43 million acres
of national forests in the lower 48
states. On Christmas Eve, the admin
istration finalized an agreement with
Alaska to allow exemptions for log
ging in roadless areas of the Tongass
National Forest despite 250,000 pub
lic comments opposing the plan.
Spanning 17 million acres, which in
clude 9 million roadless acres, Ton
gass is the largest rainforest in the
United States.
Skar said the Biscuit Fire salvage
project is the First in the nation to
specifically propose roadless log
ging, and he expected it to set a
precedent that will echo across the
national forest system while the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule is
tied up in the courts.
In 2000, the Siskiyou Project un
successfully campaigned to have 1.2
million acres of the Siskiyou National
Forest declared a national monument
under the name "Siskiyou Wild
Rivers." Currently, 183,000 acres of
the forest is a federally protected
wilderness area.
"Once you log in an area, it's not
available for that kind of protection,"
Skar said, adding that logging would
fundamentally change the diversity of
the ecosystem.
Contact the Pulse editor
at aaronshakra@dailyemerald.com.
Measure 30
. Tomorrow is the last day to vote!
A yes vote is a vote to keep the state budget the
way it is by increasing income taxes for three years.
The average taxpayer will see a $36 increase per year.
People who make less than $10,000 per year will see
no increase.
A no vote is a vote to
not increase income
taxes for three years
and cut $575 million
from the state
budget. $7.5 million of
these cuts are cuts to
higher education, and
$2 million of those cuts are to the University of Or
egon. The UO will compensate for the cuts through
increased tuition, increased class sizes and/or reduced
heating in classrooms.
Have your ballot', but don't want to pay postage?
Drop it off in the white elections box in the EMU.
Don't know where it is? See the map — >
as uo
executive
It's all about the ASUO working for you!
Tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 3, is the last day to vote.
So get your ballot in by 8 p.m.
Can't get to the campus drop-off? Are you registered and
didn't get your ballot? The ASUO will drive you to
the county elections office tomorrow from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
To get picked up, call (541) 346-0628.
It's your money. It's your decision.
Vote.
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