E A RT H D AY 2 0 1 2
GOOSED
A commentary on the
Goose Timber Sale BY ROY KEENE
T
he Goose Timber Sale near McKenzie Bridge is a large
Forest Service logging operation posed as a benefi cial
project for the forest and the people. But local people
aren’t buying the sales pitch. They say this giant timber
sale will, in truth, be as bad for the forest as it will for them.
Since Bush’s 2003 Healthy Forest Initiative, federal
logging has morphed from a straightforward “get the cut out”
to a sideways approach of “improving” the forest by logging
it. This new, improved logging, called by buzzwords like
“restoration,” “thinning” or “fuel reduction,” still focuses on
removing older, high-value timber much like the old logging.
Fuzzy names and science didn’t fool the citizens of
McKenzie Bridge. They chastised the Forest Service
for failing to adequately inform them, dug into the
Environmental Assessment, got up to speed with the issues
and began looking intelligently at sale units.
Apart from broadcast burning in the wake of historic
logging, there’s little evidence in Goose of the intense crown
fi res the Forest Service uses as justifi cation for “heavy
thinning.” Heavy thinning creates open-canopied, dried-out,
slash and brush-fi lled residual stands, which are typically
more fl ammable after logging. Given that logging itself
is also a major cause of wildfi re ignition, the community
wonders how will logging reduce fi re risk?
The reality disconnect of this 38-million-board-foot timber
grab reducing wildfi re bothers many forest-savvy locals as
much as the coming war zone. McKenzie Bridge residents don’t
look forward to day-long droning of chainsaws, the roar of jet
helicopters, loaded trucks rumbling by in swirling dust or the
increase in wildfi re danger from summer logging operations.
Besides devaluing this rural community’s life quality,
Goose will devalue the forest and signifi cantly undervalue the
public’s high-quality timber. A similar sale, the Ten Re-Offer
HANGING OUT IN THE GOOSE
was ignominiously awarded for $7.60 a ton ... 10 percent
of real market value. This undervaluing partially refl ects
helicopter yarding, so expensive and wasteful that we end up
paying for valuable trees to be removed from our forest.
There are more bad eggs from the Goose, but also a few
ways to honestly buffer McKenzie River residents from
seldom-seen forest fi res while preserving forest capital.
Instead of logging large trees from distant upland slopes,
remove small trees and excess vegetation around residences
and thin forest understories along roads. Contract smaller,
less-mechanized, but equally effective fuel reduction
projects locally. Quit subsidizing distant mega-mills with
PHOTO BY ROY KEENE
huge helicopter and skyline logging operations at a loss
to the public. Instead, redirect these subsidies toward
activities like putting steel roofi ng on vulnerable community
buildings and creating ponds for wildlife that would serve
simultaneously as water points for future fi re fi ghting.
The Goose Timber Sale does one thing really well. It
highlights the inherent dishonesty, inequity and wastefulness
of the archaic federal timber sale program. As one citizen
said, “It looks as if you’re going to turn me into a 67-year-old
tree sitter with this Goose Project. Bad news for us all!” ew
For more on community effort to stop the Goose Timber Sale, go to
www.savemckenziebridge.com
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EUGENE WEEKLY APRIL 19, 2012 15