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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2004)
NEWS BRIEF Student develops DuckHunt alternative It can sometimes be frustrating to search for open classes when register ing, especially for most freshmen who have to wait as classes fill with juniors and seniors. But junior Trevor Sehrer has developed an alternative that may make the registering process a little less painful. Last year, Sehrer spent several days developing Class Check, a program IT that students can use to search for open classes. The philosophy major developed the program after experi encing frustration when registering. "As a freshmen once, I also had my fair share of problems registering for class," he said. "So by using this pro gram, it just makes things easier." To use the program, students can visit http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/ ~tsehrer/cc.html, and fill in the term, the class they want to enroll in and the class CRN. The program searches for requested classes and sends an e mail if there is an opening in the class. "Instead of always needing to hit the refresh button on the computer, all you have to do is to check your mail," Sehrer said. Sehrer said he views this program not as a replacement of DuckHunt but mostly as an improvement of the current system. He added that he is willing to give the program to the University once he graduates. "Although the current registering sys tem is justifiably fair, it still does not make registering any easier," he said. "This program will make it fairer." — Rachel Lee I Courtesy Siskiyou Project Post-fire logging along roadsides has already taken place, such as along the Eight Dollar Road near Fiddler Mountain. SISKIYOU continued from page 1 Rare flowers, such as the carnivorous cobra lily and the Kalmiopsis leachi ana, the oldest living relative of the rho dodendron, bloom there. Chinook salmon and steelhead trout can be found in the rivers, while the pacific fisher, pine martin, cougar, black bear and spotted owl are among the crea tures that dwell in the woods. It's these qualities that the USDA Forest Service is responsible for maintaining. Biscuit Fire Forest Ser vice spokeswoman Judy McHugh said the purpose of November's Draft Environmental Impact State ment is to protect communities and firefighters in the event of a wildfire, to maintain fish and wildlife habitat and to stimulate economic recovery. Under the preferred alternative of the DEIS, 11 percent of the forest — in which nearly 500,000 acres burned during the 2002 Biscuit Fire — would be replanted using native conifer seeds, and 89 percent would be allowed to re forest itself. Any potential logging would take only dead trees; of the 29,000 acres of salvage under the For est Service preferred alternative, 110 acres have living trees. Questions still remain Southern Oregon Timber Associa tion Vice President Dave Hill — whose organization represents wood products manufacturers, secondary manufacturers, saw mills and loggers — said the economic viability of the area is questionable. "Those trees have been losing value since after they've died," he said. "It's hard to know what you're going to be able to recover." Money aside, Hill said most of his clients want to see a healthy forest re turn speedily. "If you let Mother Nature take her course, there will be large areas that don't reforest themselves naturally," he said. "It's going to be a slow process to produce a new forest." But Skar is skeptical of the DEIS pre ferred alternative Skar said he thinks it is ideologically driven and inaccurately represents the environmental motiva tions of the Forest Service, adding that the forest is a fire-dependent ecosystem. '"We want to grow old-growth forest. Look, we should be restoring that old growth habitat as best as possible The best way to do that is with artificial planting and logging first.' That's the mantra of these guys," Skar said. "They can't sell it to the American people like that so the/re trying to sell it like 'We want to protect the owls and re-grow the forest'" he continued. "But whenever we're doing something artifi cial, there are unforeseen consequences — the repercussions may not manifest for decades." Potential ecological effects Timothy Ingalsbee, director of West ern Fire Ecology Center for the Ameri can Lands Alliance, said the logging proposal will simplify the forest and re duce biological diversity of its ecosys tem. Replanting trees wouldn't replace the usability of fallen and standing dead old-growth ones, he added. "These are the most ecologically valuable trees in the forest" he said. "A tree really begins its second life after it has died. Many creatures adapt their habitat to utilize big standing old growth trees and use them for shelter, food and protection." Ingalsbee, a research assistant for the University, said salvage logging would not prevent forest fires, but instead pro voke the opposite effect — increasing their ability to bum. "Logging will make this site more flammable because it will focus on the big old trees," he said. "It will dump the most flammable portion of the tree on the ground — needles, branches, small under-story trees, brush and stumps." McHugh said economics do play a part in the plans for the forest "Nobody's saying that salvaging trees is being done for ecological rea sons," she said. 'To be economical, a fair amount of material per acre will betaken." Both Skar and Ingalsbee also noted that aspects of the DEIS are worth keep ing, namely those focused strictly on restoration without any salvage log ging. Ingalsbee said the Forest Service's effort to promote prescribed burning of the landscape, giving the area a neces sary dosage of fire, is commendable. Impending changes The Forest Service expects to release its Final Environmental Impact State ment in mid-April simultaneously with a Record of Decision, which will final ize one course of action, McHugh said. Should the decision allow for tim ber sales, it almost certainly would sit unfavorably with some people. That being the case, Skar said he would expea protests. "Probably what you'll see after that is massive civil disobedience in the form of blocking roads, tree-sits and a whole range of things," he said. Ingalsbee was similarly vocal about the potential repercussions. "There will be public outrage from coast to coast," he said. "This is a na tional outrage, an assault on a place that has global ecological value." Western Environmental Law Center attorney Andrea Rodgers, whose firm recently represented a case against the Forest Service that resulted in the pro tection of 574 acres of old-growth forests in Oregon, said once the final impaa statement is released it can be appealed. She is currently working with five organizations — the American Lands Alliance Klamath Siskiyou Wild lands Center, ONRC, the Sisldyou Pro ject and the Sierra Club — to help them draft comments and assist with any le gal questions. "If it does get to the litigation stage then we are planning on representing those five plaintiff organizations," Rodgers said. McHugh said people must ultimate ly consider a balance between environ mental and economic values, and added that the Forest Service should choose the best possible balance be tween the two. "Forests are not static. They evolve all the time," she said. "That process is go ing to happen with or without humans. The question is, what do we as a society see on that landscape? We've got to de cide that together." Contact the Pulse editor at aaronshakra@daHyemerakf.com. poetry SIAM! Show off your skills and win cash! The Suicide Kings - a professional slam team - will be your final judges. Sign up in EMU Suite II! First 15 entries. Preliminary Round: Thursday, February 5th @ 6pm in the EMU Fishbowl Finals: Thursday, February 26th in Agate Hall 7pm Entry Fee: $4 UO Students Only http://culturalforum. uoregon. edu tr51 o UNIVERSITY OF OREGON AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON • leadership classes " academic leadership connections ■ scholastic leadership organizations uoleadership.uoregon.edu opportunities ■ resources • events o GET LUCKY ON "miLEMirTME'g BAY. • Ambrosia dinner for two • Bijou Theater passes • Onsen 1-hour hot tub rental NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. ENTRY BOX ON MAIN FLOOR. WINNER ANNOUNCED FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH AT 5 P.M. Love is in the air at the UO Bookstore. Cards, gifts, chocolate and more! 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