Deschutes National Forest responds to logging foes

On Monday morning, activists with Cascadia Forest Defenders hung a banner across Cascade Lakes Highway in protest of the Forest Service’s plans of plans they claim will clear-cut and log old growth on public land.

The banner reads “Blue Marks = Proposed Cuts! Forests Need Old Growth.” Some of the trees slated for cutting are visible directly from the road and are marked by blue paint on about four miles along Cascade lakes Highway.

In a statement notifying media of the banner, Cascadia Forest Defenders said they “demand a stop to commercial logging on the Deschutes National Forest and on all public lands.”

“It is unacceptable for these supposed stewards of the forest to continue clear-cutting sensitive species habitat, targeting old large-diameter trees, fragmenting ancient ecosystems, and denying Oregon recreationalists access to the places they love,” activist Richard Hayley said.

The “Lex Vegetation Management Project” and the “West Bend Vegetation Management Project” are two controversial timber sales on the Deschutes forest, they said.

The Lex timber sale proposes 6,500 acres of commercial logging only about 10 miles from Bend. Critics said the sale includes potential Northern Spotted Owl habitat and stands of never-before-logged forest.

“Other parts of the sale have been logged in the past and are just now beginning to recover – they should be left to grow.,” the group said.

The 25,000-acre West Bend timber sale includes about 14,000 acres of “very heavy logging and clear-cutting,” the opponents said, adding that the sale runs alongside the Deschutes River near Lava Island, a popular recreation area. “It is comprised of mostly of a thriving, healthy and mature forest,” they said.

The protesters added, “Both timber sales are home to deer, elk, bear, grouse, American marten, Northern goshawk, and black-backed woodpecker. These areas also suffer from drought, stream damage by past logging, and are especially vulnerable to soil erosion and other consequences of timber harvest.”

“The West Bend and Lex sales are very alarming to us,” said activist Erin Grady. “How can the Forest Service justifiably cut 31,500 acres of fragile forest on public land? Do they really think that the scores of Oregonians who hike, camp, and bike in Central Oregon want this to happen?”

The group said, “The mismanagement of the Deschutes National Forest is inexcusable. Clearcutting, salvage logging, and suppressing healthy and natural wildfires are practices that benefit the timber industry, not ecosystems.”

Bend-Fort Rock District Manager Kevin Larkin responded to the group’s message.

“I certainly will hope that groups that have objections or have concerns about our projects will come to the table and will discuss those with us prior to the completion and implementation of projects,” Larkin said.

“But at the same time, I hope that folks recognize these projects themselves are products of years of collaboration,” he added.

Larkin said one of the two projects is slated to begin this fall and continue for a couple of years. The other is about a year away from deciding how to proceed.

For more on the opposing group’s views, visit the Cascadia Forest Defenders Website: forestdefensenow.com

Here’s a link to the forest’s West Bend Vegetation Management Project and here’s a link to the Lex Vegetation Management Project.