More on Oregon Salvage: Santiam State Forest Lawsuit

Salem Statesman-Journal today:

Environmental groups file lawsuit to stop post-fire logging in Santiam State Forest

The state wants to salvage 3,000 acres of the 16,000 acres burned. a few excerpts:

The suit aims to stop the Oregon Department of Forestry from current logging and stop it from moving forward with timber sales and hazard tree removal across 3,000 acres of state forest burned by the Labor Day Fires around the Santiam Canyon. 

The groups cited concerns over recreation, drinking water and forest health in asking a Multnomah Circuit Court judge to issue an injunction at a hearing scheduled for April 30. If successful, all logging would be halted until the case was decided. 

“Salvage logging the Santiam State Forest will do great damage to spotted owls, struggling salmon populations, water quality and forest recovery,” Noah Greenwald, endangered species director with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. 

Some locals disagreed. 

“The plan that was put forward is very responsible and only accounts for a very small percentage of what was burned,” Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron said. “It’s good stewardship to go in and use some of those salvaged logs and put them to use while supporting our community rebuilding efforts.” 

Within the 3,000 acres, there are two different types of logging proposed. Around 1,100 acres is proposed for “partial cut harvest,” meaning foresters would focus on cutting dead trees and leaving alive ones intact. The other 1,900 acres is “regeneration harvest,” which is essentially clear-cutting standing dead trees and then re-planting.

2 thoughts on “More on Oregon Salvage: Santiam State Forest Lawsuit”

  1. They better get with it, time is of the essence! Delays will be disastrous to the utilization of the trees. I imagine that is what the center for biodiversity is trying to accomplish. I have no agreement with the people trying to stop the salvage of burnt timber. There is just so much of it!

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  2. Update from the Salem, Oregon Statesman-Journal, via Mike Archer’s Wildfire News of the Day email. Subscribe by sending an email to Mike at [email protected].

    https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2021/05/05/santiam-state-forest-salvage-logging-lawsuit/4941488001/

    A Multnomah County judge has rejected a request from environmental groups to halt post-fire logging in the Santiam Canyon, but that doesn’t mean controversy surrounding how Oregon manages the forests burned in the Labor Day fires is going away.

    Last Friday, circuit court judge Jerry Hodson ruled that the Oregon Department of Forestry could move forward with plans to harvest and remove hazard trees on 3,000 acres of fire-burned Santiam State Forest.

    Hodson found the lawsuit filed by seven conservation groups last month was unlikely to prevail in court, so he denied a requested injunction to stop the plan.

    Environmental activists briefly shut down a hazard tree removal operation along Highway 126 on Monday. And on Thursday, around 20 conservation groups are planning a rally at the state capitol to “demand an end to the reckless post-fire logging taking place on public lands across the state,” according to a news release.

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