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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2012)
NEWS ELLIOTT LOGGING TAKES A PAUSE The news that clearcutting would be suspended on 914 acres of the Elliott State Forest came to logging opponents through a September memo that was posted on the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) website, Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands says. He says this was welcome news for an endangered sea bird that nests in Oregon’s coastal old-growth forests. Cascadia Wildlands and other groups fi led a suit in federal court in July to try protect the threat- ened marbled murrelet and its habitat, and that suit has led to the temporary cease in clearcutting. Six timber sales were deferred on the Elliott, Kevin Weeks of ODF says, and one, Moon Creek on the Tilla- mook. Weeks says there are no plans to defer additional sales at this time. The lawsuit alleges that specifi c timber sales and ongoing timber practices on the Elliott, Tillamook and Clatsop state forests are violating the Endangered Spe- cies Act by harming the murrelet’s nesting habitat. The state had been working on a plan called a Habitat Con- servation Plan for the forest, Laughlin says, he says but “walked away” after federal agencies wouldn’t approve “egregious” streamside logging that could affect feder- ally listed Coho salmon. Instead Laughlin says, the State Land Board voted to “ramp up” clearcutting on the state forests. The increased logging has been not only been the sub- ject of a lawsuit, but a number of protests from treesits to occupying state offi ces have drawn attention the state forest logging issue. The memo dated Sept. 19 is in regard to the 2013 Coos GWENDOLYN IRIS AT CITY HALL District operations plan, and it says that due to Cascadia Wildlands vs. Kitzhaber et al timber operations on a num- ber of areas in the Elliott will be suspended until the case is resolved. The land board, made up of Gov. John Kitzhaber, Sec- retary of State Kate Brown and Treasurer Ted Wheeler, is scheduled to have an executive session, which is not open to the public, Nov. 26 at noon in Salem “to consult with le- gal counsel concerning current litigation or litigation likely to be fi led,” but a representative would not say if the meet- ing was in regard to the Cascadia Wildlands case. Weeks says ODF will soon open a comment period on the Coos operations plan proposing six new sales in non- murrelet habitat. Laughlin says conservationists will continue to “call on Kitzhaber to take a timeout on old-growth clearcutting on state forests and commence efforts to create balanced forest plans for our coastal state forests.” — Camilla Mortensen ECO-SABOTEUR PRISON RELEASE AND PARTY Eco-saboteur Daniel McGowan, the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary fi lm If a Tree Falls, will be released from the secretive prison where he has been held for the past several years on Dec. 11. The Civil Lib- erties Defense Center, which has worked to expose and oppose the Communications Management Units where McGowan was held, is sponsoring a fundraising event at Cozmic Friday, Nov. 23, support to help McGowan after he is released. McGowan was charged in federal court with arson, property destruction and conspiracy for his participation in ecologically motivated arsons in 2001 with the Earth DANIEL MCGOWAN PHOTO BY SHANNON FINNELL HOMELESS SHIVER AS CITY HALL STANDS EMPTY Two Occupy Eugene protesters got cold and in trouble for calling attention to homeless people who are cold and in trouble. The activists received citations for criminal trespass in the second degree around 1:30 am Monday after scaling the chain-link fence that blocks off Eugene’s City Hall. The Occupiers were protesting the city’s lack of action in providing homeless people with a safe place to sleep during the winter. Gwendolyn Iris scaled the chain-link fence around 2 pm Saturday, Nov. 17, during a memorial to 20 Eugene- ans who have died on the streets this year, and she locked herself inside the fenced-off area. At that time, she told EW she planned to stay until arrested or until Monday morning, when she would leave for work. Jason Miller later joined her behind the fence. Iris says the city spent $70,000 on the fence that was erected around City Hall after the city vacated the build- ing in August but no money is being spent to prevent the homeless from dying during the winter. After the closure of the Occupy camp at Washington-Jefferson Park in December 2011, City Council approved the use of $100,000 to open a facility similar to the Egan Warming Center that would help house homeless people with substance abuse issues through that winter, but the facility was only open Dec. 22-24. “The fact that they spent this much on a fence to keep people out of a public building that could be keeping people warm but can’t come up with the $100,000 to save lives in the middle of the winter really goes against everything that Eugene claims to be when it says it’s a human rights city,” Iris says. EW has asked the city to confi rm the cost of the fence. The city previously spent $2,000 to put a fence up around Washington-Jefferson Park after the Occupy camp was closed. In addition to monetary issues, Iris says that fencing off City Hall causes a practical problem. “They closed down one of the few public restrooms they have in the downtown area, which forces people to fi nd other ways to relieve themselves, kind of an ironic expense that they made to keep people from going in there,” she says. Iris, who has been involved with Occupy for a year, says, “just because I’m on this side of the fence doesn’t mean I’m going to stop talking about this issue.” — Shannon Finnell 8 November 21, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com Liberation Front in Oregon. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Judge Ann Aiken applied a “terror- ism enhancement” to his sentence. Many of McGowan’s years in prison were spent in CMUs in Terre Haute, Ind., and Marion, Ill., where his communications were restrict- ed and monitored and he was not allowed to physically come in contact with his visitors. McGowan’s wife Jenny Synan says that since enter- ing prison in July 2007, McGowan has lost around 40 pounds, none of his pre-prison clothes will fi t him and he will need professional attire for when he starts work in New York City. She says, “We hope that money and gift cards raised at this time will help ease him back into the outside world, with the least amount of stress possible.” The Cozmic event will feature a screening of If a Tree Falls. The fi lm focuses on McGowan and features many local Eugene activists, including videographer Tim Lew- is and attorney Lauren Regan of the CLDC. The event, which starts at 7 pm, costs $7 and will also feature the bands the Alder Street All Stars and Closely Watched Trains. Also in civil liberties news, at 6 pm Tuesday, Nov. 27, the CLDC, the Survival Center and the Cascadia Forest Defenders are hosting a “resist the grand juries teach- in” at the Bascom- Tykeson Room, Eugene Public Li- brary. The “know your rights training” will be followed by a panel and Q&A with previous grand jury resisters. — Camilla Mortensen
