Crown Pacific Partners / Bush Administration
Wilamette Week Editorial
June 23, 2004

The scream of chainsaws is once again splitting the air deep in the old-growth forests of Southern Oregon, where the scent of sawdust mixes with the tang of gasoline, bar oil, and an even more distinctive odor--the smell of greed.

The scene of the skullduggery is the Fremont National Forest, where the infamous Toolbox fire blazed in 2002. In the fire's aftermath, the U.S. Forest Service auctioned more than 10,000 charred acres for salvage logging. Enter one of our rogues, Crown Pacific Partners, which won the bid and inked a contract on May 25.

As it happened, Ivan Maluski of the Sierra Club was in Lakeview that day, when he heard from a Forest Service employee that Crown Pacific had started cutting down trees even before it signed the contract.

Armed with a digital camera, Maluski rushed into the forest and stumbled across a disturbing sight: freshly felled trees oozing sap, with sawdust still caked underfoot (see photo). Clearly, someone had been cutting down trees. Problem was, Crown Pacific wasn't supposed to let the chainsaws rip until it received the government's blessing.

Crown Pacific denies jumping the gun. "Neither Crown Pacific nor any loggers operating on its behalf conducted any harvesting activities on May 24 or 25," declared Greer Kelly, the log-supply coordinator for Crown Pacific's Gilchrist mill, in court documents.

There's more at stake here than itchy fingers. The Sierra Club and other green groups have filed a lawsuit to stop the sale on environmental grounds. Ordinarily, that would force the government to delay the harvest. But thanks to roguish rules pushed by the Bush administration, the U.S. Forest Service may short-circuit such lawsuits in an "emergency"--the definition of which is conveniently vague.

That means Crown Pacific may strip Toolbox of its timber long before the legal issues are sorted out. The bankrupt company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, certainly has a strong incentive to do so: Mired in debt, it may haul as much as 36 million board feet of lumber (enough to fill 7,200 log trucks) out of the Toolbox and related parcels at, um, fire-sale prices.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.

Feds Speed Up Salvage
By Dylan Darling, K-Falls Herald & News
April 28, 2004

Saws could be buzzing soon in the burn area of the Toolbox fire near Silver Lake.

The U.S. Forest Service has declared an economic emergency exists concerning salvageable timber on public land scorched in July 2002. The agency is using new regulations that allow it to skip the appeals process in order to expedite timber sales.

Last June the Forest Service expanded its language of what makes up an emergency situation for a timber salvage to include substantial loss of economics.

Use of the new rules allowed the Forest Service to schedule an auction for today to sell four parcels of timber with an estimated 4.2 million board feet of logs. Four more sales are set to go to auction in early May.

Officials said the timber is deteriorating quickly, eroding the value of the wood.

"If we don't get much of that material out this summer, it becomes increasingly possible that we don't sell any of that material," said Carolyn Wisdom, Silver Lake district ranger.

Critics say the Forest Service is cutting the public out of the process of deciding what to do with salvage timber, and that economics don't make for emergency.

A lightning storm on July 12, 2002, sparked a swarm of fires, which came to be known as the Toolbox Complex, in the woods south of Silver Lake.

In all, the fires blackened 85,000 acres, including 49,500 acres of national forest.

The draft plan for fire recovery was finished last October and opened to public comment.

"From then to now, more than half the value is gone," Wisdom said.

The original plan called for salvage of 73.2 million board feet of timber. The revised plan now calls for salvage of 36 million board feet.

"And that is dropping as we speak," Wisdom said.

Wisdom said the timber is quickly developing a condition called "blue stain" caused by a fungus.

Although it's possible that environmentalists could seek an injunction, Wisdom said timber crews could be out cutting trees within a week or two, depending how ready they are to go to work and how much snow is left on the ground.

Linda Goodman, the Forest Service's regional forester, approved the determination of an economic emergency for 7,300 acres of commercial salvage and 4,500 acres of fuels treatment.

The rest of the restoration plan, which also calls for salvage of another 3,000 acres, 2,200 acres of thinning and 20,000 acres of replanting, will be subject to the usual 45-day appeal process. The clock on that process started ticking on Monday.

With the emergency determination, anyone opposed to the salvage will need to take the Forest Service quickly if they want to stop a salvage.

They could still go through the appeal process, but the salvage could be done before the appeal is considered, said Don Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council.

"If we win the appeal, the result is moot because the trees are already gone," Heiken said.

Going straight to litigation is much more burdensome and costly than the appeals process because it involves lawyers, he said.

"It is just another way that cuts the public out of the loop," Heiken said.

Emergencies should be limited to situations in which public health or safety is at risk, he added.

Karen Shimamoto, supervisor of the Fremont-Winema National Forests, said the economics of the Toolbox salvage make it something that needs to be done as soon as possible.

"We used the rationale that if we didn't remove this material, it would add to our future cost and we would have to open more acres to reforestation," Shimamoto said.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.

Crown Pacific Bids Win Toolbox Trees
By Dylan Darling, K-Falls Herald & News
April 29, 2004.

Crown Pacific was the king of bidders Wednesday for timber salvage sales from the Toolbox burn.

The company's Gilchrist mill had the high bids for four sales in the burn area south of Silver Lake auctioned by the U.S. Forest Service.

Greer Kelly, a forester at the mill, said the company wants to start harvesting as soon as it can because most of the trees are dead.

"They are going to deteriorate pretty fast when the weather changes," he said.

In 2002, lightning started the Toolbox complex of fires, which burned 85,000 acres, 49,500 of which was national forest land.

Crown Pacific outbid Butte Timberlands, Malheur Lumber and some smaller operations.

The company bid a total of $713,355 for the 14.6 million board feet of timber, said Carolyn Wisdom, Silver Lake district ranger.

"The notable thing is these sold for two to three times more than their stumpage rates," she said.

One of the sales was bid at $63.50 per 1,000 board feet, said Doug Coon, a Forest Service timber sale expert. The sale had been advertised at $24.90.

Wisdom said the sales should be final next week.

The will be four more sales in early May for Toolbox timber. Although, the 45-day appeal period for the fire's restoration plan started Monday, the sales were made possible because of adjusted Forest Service rule allowing for salvage timber to be sold and cut if there is an economic emergency.

If environmental groups want to stop the salvage, they will have to go straight to court.

Meanwhile, the Fremont sawmill in Lakeview is set to have loggers start cutting salvage timber in the Winter Fire area Monday, said Bill Aney, Paisley district ranger.

The sale will produce 9.3 million board feet for about $77,000.

In all, about 1,205 acres of the 34,000 burned in the August 2002 fire will be logged. Most of the logging will be done with helicopters in the burn area that stretches along the west side of Highway 31 near Silver Lake. The fire was caused by lightning.

Aney said the plan had been appealed by the Oregon Natural Resources Council and the Northwest Environmental Defense Council in early April, but the Forest Service and the groups were able to negotiate a compromise, and the appeal was dropped.

In the compromise, the Forest Service agreed not to harvest a portion at the north end of the salvage area. The portion would had produced 3 million to 4 million board feet of timber and had a stumpage value of about $25,000.

Aney said the Forest Service went for the compromise because it didn't want the issue to end up in court, which could have meant that the issue would have taken months to resolve. In that time the trees would continue to rot.

"We could win the case, but lose the battle because of deterioration," he said. On the Net: www.fs.fed.us/r6/winema/management/analyses/toolbox and www.fs.fed.us/r6/winema/management/analyses/winterfire

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and as defined under the provisions of "fair use", any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment for non-profit research and for educational use by our membership.