MEDFORD, OR (Aug. 7, 2006) -- Today, logging began in Oregon’s South Kalmiopsis Roadless Area despite repeated efforts by Governor Ted Kulongoski to halt the Mike’s Gulch project.
Governor Kulongoski is currently developing Oregon’s petition seeking protection of the state’s nearly 2 million acres of inventoried roadless areas, and has repeatedly asked the Forest Service to delay logging in these areas while he does so. “I strongly support restoring protection to Oregon’s roadless areas,” the Governor said. “These lands are part of every Oregonian’s natural heritage, and I believe that Oregonians deserve to set the future of our forests.”
“These cherished roadless National Forest lands are being opened up to logging despite the repeated objections of state and local governments, hunting and fishing enthusiasts, local businesses and the majority of Oregon’s citizens,” said Bill Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. “The decision to log in these natural areas will cause real - in some cases irreparable - damage to our public lands.”
The Mike’s Gulch timber sale is the first roadless area logging project in the country to be implemented since the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule was established. Strong public interest in that rule-making process generated nearly two million public comments in support of increased roadless area protections. A second roadless tract, the Blackberry timber sale in Oregon’s North Kalmiopsis Roadless Area, was auctioned last Friday.
Building roads in natural areas not only impacts water, wildlife and recreation, it costs taxpayers millions of dollars. According to Mike Dombeck, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service and former director of the Bureau of Land Management, “The National Forest system has more than 400,000 miles of roads mostly built for timber harvest, with a maintenance backlog approaching $10 billion, a significant taxpayer liability. The real problem is not only the one-time cost of constructing a new road but its maintenance cost.”
The actions in Oregon open the door to logging in roadless areas across the country, and point to an alarming trend by the federal government to disregard their promise to uphold roadless protections until states can petition for individual consideration. The petition deadline is November 13, and to date the governors of California, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia have filed. Meantime, the Bush Administration is moving aggressively to advance logging and drilling plans in roadless areas in New Hampshire, Colorado and Minnesota.
“The logging taking place today sets a dangerous precedent for our last natural places,” said Meadows. “Oregon is just the beginning of a trail of broken promises to protect America’s public lands.”
