Logging

The Oregon Sierra Club says it won’t support Senator Wyden’s logging bill for Eastern Oregon. The group had been withholding judgement ever since the deal was announced almost two months ago. But now, the group’s Conservation Director Ivan Maluski tells me that without some changes, the Sierra Club will oppose the measure. His critique of the...
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Long time adversaries in Oregon’s timber wars told the Senate today they’re ready to make peace, at least in Eastern Oregon. The setting was a hearing on the Eastern Oregon Logging bill sponsored by Senator Wyden. Based on a historic compromise between timber and conservation groups, the bill hopes to revive the region’s logging industry...
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See streaming video of hearing at this link. 1:29pm: Kerr admits the conservation community is split over the bill. Many groups still believe in preserving forests from development because that activity has been harmful in the past. More are recognizing that restoring forests are now what’s needed. 1:05pm Not a fan of the bill, Larry Blasing...
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Tomorrow, the Senate gets its first look at a compromise logging bill for Eastern Oregon. Ideally, the bill is supposed to end years of timber wars. No more logging for the sake of logging. Instead, timber harvests happen as part of a greater effort to restore forests. Old growth trees are off limits. But Eastern...
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Senator Wyden’s logging bill for Eastern Oregon forests picked up the support of Senator Merkley today. Merkley’s office issued a press release saying he’ll co-sponsor the bill, officially known as the Oregon Forest Restoration and Old Growth Protection Act of 2009. It has a first hearing March 10 with the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands...
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The Hells Canyon Preservation Council says it just can’t support a compromise deal for logging forests in Eastern Oregon. The deal, put together after 18-months of negotiations between environmental groups and the timber industry, opens the door for logging on about 8 million acres of federal forests east of the Cascades.
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Add Governor Kulongoski to the list of supporters for the new Eastern Oregon logging agreement that was announced this week. The deal was negotiated by timber and conservation groups, with the help of Senator Wyden’s office. Wyden will introduce legislation to make it happen. “The forests of eastern Oregon have reached a crisis condition as has...
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A few years from now, we may be looking back and realize this was the day “peace” was declared in the Eastern Oregon timber wars. After some 18-months of negotiations, environmental groups and the timber industry have reached a deal on logging some 8-million acres of federal forests in the eastern part of the state....
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Interior Secretary Salazar is stepping into the middle of one of the Northwest’s longest running environmental battles, logging the vast federal forests of Western Oregon. The challenge is this: how do you create a steady supply of timber for local economies without hurting those forests and the endangered species that live there?  The two previous...
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While court fights don’t always make for the most exciting stories, this one deserves a mention. The Pacific Rivers Council and the Western Environmental Law Center are going to court to make sure WOPR is dead for good.  WOPR stands for Western Oregon Plan Revisions, a controversial Bush-era decision to greatly increase logging on federal...
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