and subsequent cutting illegal.
“They’re blatantly violating the law right
now … so this timber sale is currently being
litigated against in the courtroom,” says Josh
Laughlin of the CWP.
“It’s disappointing and puzzling when
someone accuses us of illegally logging this
timber sale,” says Patti Rodgers, public af-
fairs specialist for the Willamette National
Forest. “We’re not protecting every red tree
vole nest … we’re not required to.”
According to Rodgers, the USFS must “pro-
tect habitat sufficient to maintain the persist-
ence of the species,” and believes that is just
what they are doing.
Tree-sitting is what Laughlin describes as
a “last ditch effort to hold off the logging” in
what many consider to be a sacred stand of
old-growth trees, some of which are upwards
of 400 years old. A young woman protesting
on the ground was arrested July 23 for “inter-
fering with an agricultural operation.”
According to Laughlin, some of the sitters
have been at the Straw Devil sale for as long
as six months, while others have been there
only a few weeks or days. Most would not
say who they are, or even reveal how many
took posts in the trees. “That’s just the kind of
information that would be useful to the
enemy, isn’t it?”
After loggers quit working in Unit 2 for
the day at around 12:30, they silently walked
by demonstrators on the ground, reporters,
and jeers from the sitters. Some expressed
that protesting is “no way to make a living.”
Forest Service staff were critical of the
tree-sitters. “Write your congressmen and
senators. This is America. Challenge the sys-
tem, but this isn’t the way to do it. They get
dangerous … they wait until you leave to
start dumping buckets of shit and piss on us,”
one unidentified official said.
A voice from Forest Road #5875 — from
either a logger or an agency staffer — could
be heard, saying “It always manages to get
twisted around some way, so it’s better to say
nothin’.”
Rodgers says dialogue has been difficult.
“It’s been my experience that [there’s] no in-
terest on the part of these folks to do that.
They’re in it to win.”
Victory for enviros would be an end to
old-growth and clearcut logging. “If you
were to cross the landscape on the west side
of the Cascade mountain range, we’ve got
millions of acres that have been clearcut and
converted into even-aged stands. And there is
significant opportunity there to get the vol-
ume out and get out of the ongoing contro-
versy that surrounds the continued process of
old-growth logging,” says Laughlin.
Rodgers admitted that the Forest Service
has dramatically changed its logging prac-
tices throughout the past decade to move to-
wards selective thinning, and says there are
no new old-growth timber sites slated.
As of July 28, Unit 2 had been completely
logged (with felling going on among the tree-
sitters’ platforms) and a road has been
punched through the woods in preparation for
logging Unit 8.
ew
SWEATSHIRT NIGHT
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 • 7PM
CIVIC STADIUM • TICKETS 342-5367
Kelly O’Brien contributed to this report.
LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S
Renewable Energy
Technician Program
Featuring:The AMAZING Alfonso
Music provided by Los Mex Pistols Del Norte
is accepting NEW STUDENTS for fall 2003
FIRST 500 FANS WILL RECEIVE
AN EM’S SWEATSHIRT
Brought to you by your friends at
Student Dan Orleck with a photovoltaic solar panel
Lane Energy Management/Renewable Energy
Technician Program is funded by EWEB & BPA
For information about the
Renewable Energy Management program,
call Roger Ebbage at (541) 463-3977.
an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution
www.eugeneweekly.com
EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 31, 2003 11