Biscuit logging details released.

Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

Timber companies stand to gain 370 million board feet of lumber in the massive Biscuit Fire salvage sale, the U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday.

National environmental groups, members of Congress and city councilors from across the state raised a chorus of criticism over the agency's plans for logging fire-killed trees in the area burned in 2002.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski declared the area "a natural resource jewel - not only to Oregon, but to the nation" and added he was disappointed that the federal government didn't select more of the burn area as potential wilderness.

Following the much-anticipated announcement, logging the federally owned tree plantations, roadless areas and oldgrowth forest reserves in the burn area could begin in little more than a month and eventually produce enough wood to build 24,000 new houses, Forest Service figures showed.

The 370 million board feet figure in the final environmental impact statement issued Tuesday was down from 518 million in the draft statement. The Forest Service reduced the figure after learning there was less timber on the land than original estimates found and more need to avoid streams to protect salmon.

But one thing's clear: This is not the end of the Biscuit salvage logging fight. The Cave Junction-based Siskiyou Project will file suit if the Forest Service continues on its current path, said staff attorney Lori Cooper.

The high-decibel reaction to the proposal speaks loudly of election-year politics.

"It's gotten to be a real political pawn," said Paul Beck, timber manager at the Herbert Lumber Co. in Riddle. "Some folks are using this as an excuse to claim that the (Bush) administration is defiling the environment."

The Biscuit plan is proof of the administration's disregard for the environment, said Lane County Commissioner Peter Sorenson, one of 30 local elected officials who signed a letter critical of the plan.

Sorenson said the fire was an excuse to reward campaign contributors with wood for their mills. "It's all about the money the timber industry gives the Bush administration. That's really the truth of it," Sorenson said.

In the midst of the heated rhetoric, it's difficult to tell whether the logging would stoke the state's economic engine, as proponents claim, or spoil its legacy of untamed, biologically diverse woodlands.

Timber producers ask what's the big deal anyway? The 120-day fire burned nearly 500,000 acres of federal land in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. The Forest Service decision is to log only 19,000.

"We're talking about 3.8 percent of the affected area. It's a drop in the bucket and people are running around screaming the sky is falling," Beck said.

Forest Supervisor Scott Conroy, who made the call on how much to log, said it's true that 96 percent of the burn area would be allowed to recover naturally under his chosen plan. "This recovery plan provides opportunities for all - including those who seek solitude; clean, clear water; abundant wildlife and jobs," he said.

But World Wildlife Fund project director Dominick DellaSala said the damage would be far more than the percentage of land seems to signify.

"They go into the most sensitive land," he said. "They're going to log those areas, and then they're going to claim they're only taking 4 percent. In reality, that's the last place that anybody would go to if they were concerned about the health of the land and the recovery of the area from fire."

Forest Service officials chose the 370 million board feet level of harvest because they believed it would spur the southwest Oregon economy and provide as many as 6,900 jobs - but it's difficult to know if many of those will be added jobs.

Some timber companies may store their regular stock of green wood while they process the burned wood, so they can avoid hiring extra staff.

It costs mill owners a lot of money to hire and train enough workers to add a second or third shift to their operations, so many will instead make extensive use of overtime.

Environmental groups are urging the federal government to harvest 25 million to 40 million board feet from federal plantations and leave the roadless areas alone. They'd prefer the Forest Service create jobs by hiring for restoration work.

Greenpeace opened a "forest rescue station" near Medford on Tuesday and vowed to share its opposition to the plan with the world. The eventual goal: A moratorium on commercial logging on public lands.

For more information, go to www.biscuitfire.com.

BISCUIT FACTS

The fire: In summer 2002, lightning-ignited fire burned for 120 days, blackening 499,965 acres in and around Kalmiopsis Wilderness.

The damage: Fire burned millions of trees, destroyed habitat for plants and animals on the threatened, endangered and sensitive species lists. Taxpayers spent $150 million to put it out.

The politics: President George W. Bush made salvaging burned logs a key issue in his drive to increase logging in the Pacific Northwest. That's political payback for campaign donations from timber firms, environmental groups charge.

Public sentiment: Of 22,856 people who submitted comments to U.S. Forest Service, 95 percent opposed agency's plan to log burned timber, according to an environmental group's count that was not disputed by federal officials.