Applegater Winter 2018
21
OPINIONS
The problem is worldwide
The BLM’s categorical
exclusions and the 2016 RMP population growth
BY LUKE RUEDIGER
This summer, while fires burned in
the mountains of southern Oregon and
smoke filled the region, the Medford
District Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) was busy approving the first
two timber sales under the controversial
2016 Resource Management Plan
(RMP). These timber sales included the
Clean Slate Timber Sale outside Selma
and the Griffin Half Moon Timber
Sale near Howard Prairie. Both timber
sales were designed to maximize timber
outputs and reinstitute clear-cut logging
(rebranded as “regeneration” and even
“restoration” logging) on public lands.
They were specifically approved to
produce timber for the BLM’s annual
O&C (Oregon and California Railroad
Revested Lands) timber quota, while
admittedly increasing fuel loads and
future fire severity.
Both timber sales propose to convert
a currently mature, fire-resistant forest
into a young, regenerating forest that is
both highly flammable and susceptible
to high-severity fire effects. Perhaps
for this reason, both timber sales
contain the exact same language in their
environmental assessments regarding fuel
loads and future fire severity. The BLM
states, “For the first one to five years
after harvest, these stands would remain
a slash-fuel type until the shrubs, grasses,
and planted trees become established.
After the establishment of regeneration,
these stands would move into a brush-
fuel type. Brush-fuel types are more
volatile and are susceptible to high rates
of fire-caused mortality. Stands could
exhibit higher flame lengths, rates of
spread, and fire intensity. Fires started
within these stands could be difficult to
initially attack and control...For 5 to 20
years following planting, the overall fire
hazard would increase in these stands.”
According to the BLM,
implementation of the 2016 RMP “will
contribute to restoring fire-adapted
ecosystems in the dry forest landscape
of southern Oregon by increasing fire
resiliency. The Proposed RMP will
increase stand-level fire resistance and
decrease stand-level fire hazard from
current conditions.” Despite these
claims the BLM has yet to deliver and is
instead proposing to increase fuel loads
adjacent to rural communities. After
the smoke and fire of 2018, we should
expect something better from our public
land managers. We also sincerely hope
such reckless logging activities are not
implemented in the upcoming Middle
Applegate Timber Sale on BLM land
near Applegate communities.
Here in the Applegate Valley,
implementation of the RMP has also
BY ROBERT BENNETT
meant elimination of the widely popular
Applegate Adaptive Management
Area (AMA). The AMA was meant to
encourage public involvement in the
land-management planning process
and a localized approach to managing
Applegate Valley watersheds. Despite
continually promising to “work in the
spirit of the AMA,” BLM land managers
have instead chosen to circumvent
the public involvement process by
publishing categorical exclusions (CX).
Categorical exclusions are often utilized
to either eliminate or minimize public
involvement, environmental analysis,
and the public comment process.
Essentially, public input and detailed
analysis of a project’s potential impacts
are eliminated from the process. This
procedure creates a lack of transparency, a
lack of accountability, and only minimal
public disclosure of potential impacts.
The publication of CXs to implement
land management projects is the opposite
of collaboration, especially when
controversial projects are being pushed
through without adequate public input.
Since the approval of the 2016 RMP, the
BLM has largely removed itself from the
collaborative process surrounding the
Upper Applegate Watershed Restoration
Project (UAW), and they have stopped
attending UAW community meetings.
They have also implemented five separate
CXs, including highly controversial
proposals to legitimize over 60 miles
of previously unauthorized and
environmentally damaging OHV (off-
highway vehicle) trails and numerous
commercial logging projects. These
projects have included OHV trails in
the Ruch area, up Forest Creek, and
in the Wellington Wildlands. Logging
projects up Little Applegate, on Woodrat
Mountain, Ferris Gulch, Spencer Gulch
near Murphy, and on BLM land near
Wilderville have also been approved
using CXs. In fact, nearly 300 acres
have been either logged or proposed
for logging in CXs in the Applegate
Valley without adequate analysis of the
environmental impacts, meaningful
opportunities for public involvement, or
consultation with our local community.
Applegate Neighborhood Network is
working to encourage community-based
collaboration in the land-management
planning process in the Applegate. We
welcome the BLM back to the table
and object to the agency’s use of CXs.
The future of land management is
collaborative, transparent, and restorative
in nature; however, the BLM is living in
the past.
Luke Ruediger
siskiyoucrest@gmail.com
The dueling articles on climate change
by Alan Voetsch and Alan Journet in
the fall edition of the Applegater treated
the reader to a long list of facts, figures,
and opinions, but both letters failed
to mention the 800-pound gorilla in
the room: the growing catastrophe of
worldwide population growth.
A study compiled by Our World
in Data, an online publication, reveals
that earth’s population doubled to 1.65
billion people between 1750 and 1900.
It doubled again by 1960. Population
numbers doubled once more by the
year 2000, and earth’s population is
expected to surpass 11 billion by 2080.
It is estimated that over seven billion
folks occupy the surface of the planet
today. So if Alan Journet thinks climate
change is being caused by people, he
might rationally conclude it would make
sense to concentrate on controlling the
numbers of people.
On the other hand, Alan Voetsch
seems to imply that market conditions
and advancing technology will guide
mankind to a safe use of fossil fuels well
into the future. But can we bank on that
if world populations continue to double
every two or three generations? Parts
■ PRESENT WITH PAWS
of the planet are already experiencing
shortages of food and potable water.
The city of Portland, for instance,
embarked on an effort to reduce each
resident’s carbon footprint in the early
2000s. Public awareness programs,
alternative fuels for vehicles, along
with the encouragement of carpooling,
bicycles, and mass transit were used in
the city’s efforts.
After five years city officials proudly
announced a reduction in the individual
carbon footprint by five percent per
capita. The trouble was, during the same
period the city’s population grew by eight
percent, which left them three percent
further in the hole.
They were clearly trying to solve the
wrong problem.
If mankind is going to survive on the
planet with any kind of a meaningful
existence, some humane way of
controlling population growth must be
developed, and if Alan Journet and Alan
Voetsch really wanted to help mankind
and the planet, their energies might be
better spent in trying to solve the real
problem—the population problem.
Robert Bennett
trombone2@hotmail.com
staff will set you up. You can learn about
Continued from page 1
the adoption process and the wonderful
is a good break away from the X-Box or animals waiting for their fur-ever homes
TV screen. Children who have pets are at jacksoncountyor.org/hhs/Animal-
less likely to miss days of school due to Services/Adoption.
Laura Ahearn
illness. Children with autism or other
laura.ahearn@stanfordalumni.org
developmental conditions can sometimes
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Bailey
learn to interact with people.
How about teenagers? A study of
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Animals improve the well-being of
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If yo u w o u l d l i k e a n
adoption gift certificate to
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by Jackson County Animal
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