Published: Friday, August 26, 2011, 9:45 PM Updated: Friday, August 26, 2011, 10:02 PM
Barb Shamet and Wolfgang Schwartz believe the Oregon Department of Forestry mishandled the Millicoma Between timber sale, ignored their complaints and improperly dealt with the company logging the land.
Department officials defend how the timber sale was handled. Nonetheless, the complaint is example of the increasingly heated dispute about how to manage the Elliott, a 93,000-acre forest in Oregon's coast range. In late July, protesters opposed to a different timber sale there climbed trees to block logging roads. Three people were arrested, and later, three more were taken into custody for disrupting work at a state forestry office.
The Eugene-based Cascadia Forest Defenders, which staged the protests, called on the forestry department to quit herbicide use and end logging of what it considers the Elliott's "native forests" -- areas that burned long ago but have never been logged.
"We feel like the Elliott is not only currently where the worst logging practices are, but they're trying to make it even worse," spokesman Jason Gonzales said.
Meanwhile, many environmentalists criticize the proposed 10-year management plan for the Elliott that would take effect in 2012. The plan, now out for public comment, would increase clearcutting, opponents say.
"The Elliott has big, fat old trees," says Francis Eatherington, of Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands. "It's the only place where they're being clear-cut to this extent. Most have never been logged."
Documents describe the Millicoma Between timber sale, about 23 miles northeast of Coos Bay, as primarily 125-year-old Douglas fir with minor amounts of western hemlock, Sitka spruce, red alder and bigleaf maple. Logging is under way and the area is to be clear-cut, with about three trees per acre left as living "green trees" or girdled as standing snags favored by some wildlife.
The site became part of a larger nearby timber sale in 2008. Swanson Group Manufacturing bought an 81-acre timber sale for $485,000. But 36 acres was removed from the sale because they were too steep to log safely. In response, forestry officials substituted 39 acres of the Millicoma Between.
The original sale was publicly offered and awarded by sealed bid, but the substitution was more informal. State officials describe the substitution as routine and point out the Millicoma Between was listed as an alternative sale. Critics say the trade was behind closed doors with no public scrutiny.
Shamet and Schwartz, the neighboring property owners, say the Millicoma Between also has steep slopes. The logging area is above the West Fork of the Millicoma River, and a landslide could flow across their land and into the river, Shamet said.
She said the logging site is downstream from her home, but a landslide might cross her property. She said a landslide in 1996 -- when winter storms triggered floods and slides in much of the state's forests -- damaged her home, vehicles and a pumphouse.
"This mountain has come down before," she said. "They ignored me, they pretend we're a bunch of stupids."
A state "pre-operations report" says most of the unit meets the criteria for classification as a "high landslide hazard." Forestry department spokesman Kevin Weeks said the classification doesn't preclude logging, but alerts staff to plan accordingly. Responses can include leaving additional trees in the likely flow path to slow debris. Trapping larger pieces of wood in the upper reaches of a stream "actually mimics nature creating good habitat for fish," Weeks said.
The department has no record of a 1996 landslide, he said. Aerial photographs in 2001 and 2003 show no evidence of a debris flow in the past decade in that area, Weeks said. But he acknowledged the agency and landowner may have differing perspectives on the size or impact of a slide.
Debate over the Elliott State Forest is likely to continue.
Although managed by the state forestry department, 90 percent of it is Common School Fund land and owned by the State Land Board -- made up of the governor, secretary of state and state treasurer. The rest is owned by the Board of Forestry.
State statute says the Elliott is to be managed to generate the greatest revenue for the common school fund while maintaining sound land and timber management. The land board will vote on the 10-year management plan in October, and opponents are gearing up against it.
-- Eric Mortenson
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