Spotted Owl Ruling Halts Local Logging
By Paul Fattig, Medford Mail Tribune
March 16, 2007

More than 60 million board feet of timber already sold but not cut on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Medford District is on hold after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service withdrew its biological opinion authorizing logging in northern spotted owl habitat.

In letters sent Tuesday and Thursday to district manager Tim Reuwsaat, the agency stated it is taking the action to comply with a Feb. 16 decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The appellant judges, ruling on a 2006 lawsuit filed by the Portlandbased Oregon Wild, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland and other environmental groups, invalidated the agency's authorization to allow logging in areas that contain northern spotted owl habitat.

This week's action came after the Fish and Wildlife Service on March 1 withdrew "incidental take statements" for biological opinions on the northern spotted owl habitat lands. It has since determined withdrawal of all biological opinions pertaining to the spotted owls is warranted under the court decision, said Phil Carroll, spokesman for the agency's Portland office.

Incidental take statements refer to how many spotted owls will be displaced by planned logging. The court had agreed with the plaintiffs that the incidental take statements must not go beyond the scope of biological opinions and must be closely linked.

"By withdrawing the opinions, the BLM is no longer covered" by Fish and Wildlife's authorization, Carroll said. "We are meeting with national forest and BLM folks now to figure out what we need to do to bring everything in compliance with the 9th Circuit Court decision."

The Fish and Wildlife Service has requested a consultation with the land management agencies to ensure the new biological opinions comply with the Endangered Species Act, he said.

"This is an acknowledgement from the Fish and Wildlife Service that this style of old-growth timber sales, the removal of critical habitat for spotted owls, is illegal," said George Sexton, conservation director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center.

"This is a fight over the old-growth timber in our area," he added.

"The BLM's Medford District is basically the only ones still logging old growth in which the ecological impacts of logging are so extreme. We're hoping this will cause them to start focusing on second-growth plantations and small-diameter thinning."

The Fish and Wildlife Service sent out similar letters to the BLM's Roseburg and Eugene-Salem districts as well as to the Willamette National Forest and the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Carroll said.

However, a quick review of the Rogue River-Siskiyou sales has determined that no sales were impacted by the court's Feb. 16 decision, according to forest spokeswoman Patty Burel.

It's unknown how many other timber sales will be affected elsewhere in Western Oregon.

But the impact of the agency withdrawing its biological opinions in the BLM's Medford District will include up to 15 timber sales sold in recent years but not yet awarded, said Mary Smelcer, associate manager. That will include more than 60 million board feet of timber, she said, noting the district's annual sale quantity is around 57 million board feet.

The district forestland involved is all O&C lands in which Western Oregon counties receive a portion of the timber receipts in lieu of taxes. The lands were once owned by the Oregon and California Railroad Co. but were taken over by Uncle Sam following a corporate scandal in the early 1900s.

"We will need to reinitiate the consultation process and come up with new biological opinions for any timber sales covered by these withdrawals before these projects can go forward," Smelcer said. "We hope to get this resolved this year but we won't know until we talk with Fish and Wildlife."

She took exception to Sexton's characterization that the sales in question contain primarily old-growth stands.

"This includes a wide range of our timber sales, including quite a bit of restoration thinning," she said. "We have very extensive consultations with the Fish and Wildlife Service when we develop these sales. We carefully design these projects and carefully consider conservation measures to ensure we're not adversely modifying spotted owl critical habitat."

While timber management occurs only on 20 percent of the district's land, the agency's actions are stymied by litigation, she said. She estimated that up to 30 timber sales on the district, including more than 130 million board feet of timber, are currently tied up by litigation.

"We know litigation isn't the solution to these issues," Sexton said. "We are trying help the BLM move away from old-growth logging into second-growth and small-diameter thinning projects.

"They would be legal and still allow the agency to get out the volume," he added. "The sooner we can turn that corner, the sooner we will be sustainable and predictable in the type of work we can do in the woods."

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