B Y M A X T H O R N B E R RY
HWY 46 PROJECT
CAN’T CATCH A
[FIRE]BREAK
THE FIRE LINE/PREDATOR
INVASION CORRIDOR
PHOTO COURTESY MAHOGANY AULENBACH
NEWS
Locals and activists oppose the project
T
he Hwy 46 Project, a proposed thinning plan in the
Breitenbush Watershed in the Willamette National
Forest, is facing pushback from locals and forest
activists in the state.
Longtime forest activist Michael Donnelly
moved to the Breitenbush area in 1986 and has been active
in a number of projects there ever since. He was a plaintiff
in a 1986 lawsuit that was the first to stop ancient forest
logging, and he helped shape the Northwest Forest Plan.
Now Donnelly is concerned that the Hwy 46 Project is
once again endangering old growth stands and marring the
landscape in the name of economic growth.
“My concern is money is driving it,” Donnelly says.
“It’s tortuous for them to say they are making the forest
more resilient.”
According to the Forest Service’s Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS), the project “is needed to im-
prove stand conditions, diversity, density and structure in
the project area, providing benefits to vegetation, wildlife
and overall health of the forest.”
Detroit District Ranger Grady McMahan says the Hwy
46 Project isn’t a “timber grab” but a genuine effort to im-
prove the health of the watershed.
“We have a lot of stands that grew back really thick,”
McMahan says about areas in the watershed that were
clearcut years ago. “Those stands are so thick they’re not
able to grow anymore, so they’re slowly dying out. That
makes trees more susceptible to fire and disease.”
The DEIS offers three alternatives for the project. Alterna-
tive one is to not carry out any kind of project but let the forest
sort itself out. The second alternative is supported by the For-
est Service and includes harvesting 3,662 acres of timber, in-
cluding 988 acres of fire-regenerated stands. Alternative three,
supported by Friends of the Douglas-Fir National Monument
conditionally, would trim only 2,667 acres for harvest treat-
ments and would leave fire-regenerated stands alone.
Fire-regenerated stands are the major sticking point for
the Friends, but McMahan says that some of those fire-re-
generated areas are suffering the same overgrowth as other
areas in the watershed.
Peter Moore, director of the Breitenbush Hot Springs
retreat and conference center, says he conditionally sup-
ports the project. Compared to logging projects 30 years
ago, Moore says the Forest Service is talking sense.
“They’re talking about allowing for some work to be
created and some product to be brought from the woods,”
Moore says. “Compared to the 1980s and ’70s, when they
were taking out billions of board feet and the Detroit Rang-
er District was cutting more than any other district in the
lower 48 states — this is a tiny amount compared to that.”
Moore says his biggest concerns with the project are the
roads the Forest Service wants to commission. “We would
resist the building of new roads,” Moore says, and “strong-
ly support the decommissioning of old forest roads.”
There are hundreds of miles of roads that are now safety
hazards, Moore says, but the Forest Service does not have
the budget to care for or properly remove them.
David Stone, president of the Friends of the Douglas-
Fir National Monument, argues that much more than thin-
ning and replanting needs to be done in order to ensure
diversity. Stone tells EW that various species need be re-
planted and staggered in the area. “Natural forests don’t
grow one species, all in a line, all the same age,” he says.
Stone worries that the logging project could affect
thousands of acres of land that Friends of the Douglas-Fir
National Monument is trying to protect through a national
monument it seeks to propose.
Donnelly says the trails in the watershed are popular
with hikers and that hacking into them is harmful both for
the environment and those enjoying it. “They’ve always
had names for what they’re doing, but there are always
• With Storm Kennedy as guest
emcee, the City Club of Eugene’s
“Gifts to the City” program Dec. 15
was great fun. Otto Poticha, archi-
tect and longtime critic of our built
city, opened with his gift, “pride of
place.” He even offered seven steps
to get there: a municipal art museum; protection for the one-percent-for-art program;
a transformed City Club that advocates for issues; a new city manager and support
staff; a City Council willing to make a difference; directions to EWEB and city public
works crews to beautify their work around town; and retention of designers along
with engineers to design and renovate our largest public spaces, our streets and
sidewalks. Next special gifters were Allan Benavides of the Eugene Emeralds, Bev
Smith of Kid Sports, SLUG Queen Santa Frida Babosita, Julia Olson and Tia Hatton of
Our Children’s Trust, architect Kaarin Knudson and attorney Ron Sticka. Cartoonist
Jan Elliot closed by giving Eugene a better sense of humor and a framed cartoon to
hang in the new City Hall — “if we ever get one.” Jon Belcher coordinated the program,
which you can hear, if you missed it, on klcc.org.
• We were saddened to learn that frequent Eugene Weekly and Register-Guard
letter and viewpoint writer Gary Crum passed away Dec. 13 at age 75. In the Wild
West of online comments, Crum was a rare voice of reason. We first got wind he was
ill when we saw other frequent commenters noting his absence in the RG’s comments
section, missing him and his rational tone. EW reader Elaine Weiss wrote us to ask
8
December 21, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
stumps,” he says.
Earlier this year the Forest Service cut a fire line through
a late successional reserve of mature and old growth forest
that Donnelly helped preserve.
The fires in the area never got closer than 3.5 miles
to the stand, but firefighters cut a 70-foot wide, two-mile
long corridor that Donnelly says opens the area to predator
invasion. He calls it a “predator invasion corridor” and
says it allows predators to hunt more effectively without
the dense canopy cover protecting creatures, such as en-
dangered spotted owls.
In terms of research done and scientific evidence pro-
vided, Donnelly says he is unimpressed with the Forest
Service’s DEIS. “I need to see a lot more science,” he ex-
plains, and “not just grandiose statements about how it’s
going to create resilience in the face of climate change.
Donnelly says he’s concerned that DEIS is saying there
isn’t enough early seral growth — sites that are recovering
after a disturbance such as fire or logging — but points to
dwindling ancient forest as a larger issue.
Moore says he understands that today’s Forest Service
is a different organization than the group in the ’70s and
’80s that “ran roughshod over any other competing interest
in the forest,” but adds that he still prefers to preserve old
tree stands.
Everyone interviewed by EW agrees that preserving the
forest is critical but producing commercial lumber and jobs
along the way isn’t inherently dangerous, as long as they
are conducted responsibly.
“I’ve got no problem with growing trees for lumber. I
do have a problem with liquidating old growth,” Donnelly
says. “They’ve got plenty of areas where they can grow
plantation trees, and they just need to leave it alone, what’s
left.” ■
about his passing, and her comments reflect what so many thought of Crum: “I
didn’t know him in person, but have been impressed for years by his thoughtful
and important comments in print. Whenever his name appeared, we could count
on reading something informed, concerned and intelligent.”
• A recent Facebook post from a former Eugene Weekly employee makes
troubling allegations, shared on the internet, about our workplace. We take com-
ments seriously, whether right or wrong. We are listening and want you to know
our mission at EW is for this small paper to make the world, or at least Eugene,
Lane County and Oregon a better place. With that goal in mind, our small staff
has come out with a print paper every Thursday for more than 35 years. Some
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perfect, and there are areas we can and will improve upon. Our readers should
know that this paper, its owners and staff will unequivocally strive not only to
produce a fantastic newspaper but to be a creative and friendly workplace. We
value our employees. We take allegations such as these seriously. We are re-
viewing and revising policies that prevent and address any complaints about
harassment and bullying in the workplace. If anyone has a workplace complaint,
we would encourage them to contact Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industry. We
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courage and support, as well as challenge and inspire, EW. — EW management