BLM eyes salvage of Oregon timber
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 10:33 AM PDT
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — The Bureau of Land Management wants to salvage 40 million board feet of timber blown down in a Jan. 4 windstorm. Environmentalists, who have opposed many salvage sales in the past, are at least partly on aboard.
A 196-page environmental assessment for the Butte Falls blowdown salvage project was issued July 27 for a 30-day public review, with comments due Aug. 26.
‘‘This put about 40 million board feet on the ground, everything from large trees to small trees,’’ said Chris McAlear, the Butte Falls area field manager. A timber industry group supports the project while a conservationist organization will go along with some of it but has concerns about the rest.
BLM personnel have inspected about 28,000 acres and are proposing salvage on about 6,100 acres to harvest as much as 35 million board feet.
In perspective: It takes about 16,000 board feet to build a 2,000 square-foot home.
The 40 million board-foot targeted salvage would build about 1,100 such homes. The BLM Medford district annual target harvest is around 57 million board feet. Four road salvage sales will offer just over 3 million board feet, mostly Douglas fir with some pine and incense cedar.
The BLM also worries about wildfires. A June 30 lightning strike on the downed trees triggered a fire that grew to eight acres before ground crews got to it, said John Bergin, the BLM’s forest manager for the resource area.
Susan Kropp Ontario wrote on Aug 12, 2008 3:13 PM: