Activists say more direct action likely after claiming victory in BLM timber sale

A tree sitter is stationed at the top of an old-growth Ponderosa pine in the Bureau of Land Management's Poor Windy project area in Josephine County. (Justin Higginbottom/Jefferson Public Radio)

A logging company has canceled a proposed road within a Bureau of Land Management project in Josephine County. Activists had claimed that construction of the route threatened old-growth trees.

Protesters had been staying at the location of a proposed road within the BLM’s Salmon Run timber sale, which they claim threatened old-growth trees, for the last three weeks. The activists included a “tree sitter” camped on a platform attached to a Ponderosa pine over 100 feet above the ground.

The timber sale area is part of the BLM’s Poor Windy Forest Management Project which includes around 11,000 acres slated for commercial timber harvest as well as forest thinning to prevent large wildfires.

Yesterday the BLM and Boise Cascade Wood Products changed their plan for the Salmon Run area to remove the proposed 440-foot access road at the center of protester’s concerns. The update also specified that construction of another road will not disturb large-diameter trees.

Activists claimed the road cancellation was the result of their actions.

“We believe this is just a fantastic precedent for further action to be taken against the Bureau of Land Management’s continued practice of targeting old and mature forests on public lands,” said Sam Shields, an organizer working with protestors in the area.

Shields said so far police had issued four misdemeanor citations to protestors for violating the 14-day camping limit on BLM land. But he said the updated plan shows the effectiveness of direct action in efforts to stop old-growth logging and that more use of the tactic in Southern Oregon is likely.

“In three weeks we were able to do what nonprofits and formal commenting has been unable to do in years of advocacy on the sale,” said Shields.

The BLM, meanwhile, said that their Poor Windy project adheres to sound forestry practices and the law. Although old-growth trees can be cut down if they are in the way of access roads, the BLM’s timber sales do not target those trees, according to the agency.

“[T]he Salmon Run project does not include the sale of any old growth trees,” BLM spokesperson Kyle Sullivan clarified over email.

Although the new contract was signed by the BLM and Boise Cascade on April 22, Sullivan noted that the decision to remove the proposed road from the plan was made in early April as part of regular coordination between the parties.

Earlier this month, the BLM canceled its Baker’s Dozen Forest Management project in Coos County. Conservationist groups also opposed that plan, which set aside 1,695 acres for commercial and regeneration timber harvest, due to its impact on old-growth trees.

This story was originally published by Jefferson Public Radio.

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