In The News

Arrests Made
On August 13, charges were filed against four activists for firebombing a logging truck owned by Ray Schoppert Logging in Oregon. The bombing took place at a protest against the Eagle Creek timber sales. One truck was destroyed and two were damaged. Those charged were Jacob Sherman, Angela Cesario, Jeremy Rosenbloom and Michael Scarpitti, a/k/a Tre Arrow. The FBI had been gathering evidence for the case for over a year.

Global Association Formed
On July 17, the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA) was formed. It is composed of trade associations in 39 countries, representing 75 percent of the world’s paper production and over 50 percent of the world’s wood production. The association’s goal is to work together on issues affecting forest and paper producers around the world. American Forest & Paper Association President Henson Moore will serve as ICFPA’s first president for its first two years. "Most other industries have a group like this so the industry can speak with one voice on international issues before the UN and other international bodies," said Moore.

Bush Defends Logging
This past August was a painful one, as we watched millions of acres of forests burn. But it also contained a hopeful note when George W. Bush made an appearance in Oregon with his "healthy forest initiative" proposal, which would speed up timber-cutting projects in overgrown national forests. Bush blamed activist groups for blocking the thinning of public forest lands. "What critics need to do is stand right where I stand," said Bush from Squires Peak in Southern Oregon. The forest industry has been in favor of thinning for years and President Bush’s push may help in getting things moving. The previous overhaul of wildfire policy two years ago has been slow to be implemented. Bush’s forest plan contains three key elements: • Limit or suspend environmental appeals, • Allow federal agencies to enter into long-term stewardship contracts — encouraging contractors to invest in machinery to remove and process small-diameter logs, • Triple the amount of logging in Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, but remove obstacles in the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. "The forest policy of our government is misguided — it doesn’t work," said Bush to folks in Medford, Ore. "We need to make our forests healthy by using some common sense." He advocated a harvest-based solution, but also stated clearly that it should, ideally, create enough cash flow to pay for itself. Bush’s "common sense" plea has been met with much debate from environmentalists. "They are proposing to lock out the public, waive environmental laws and hand the timber industry the keys to the kingdom," says Martin Hayden, legislative director of Earthjustice. But even with heavy protests, the pendulum appears to be swinging back to a more "common sense" approach. This season, as millions of acres burned, many environmentalists came forward in favor of some sort of forest management to curtail the severity of the fires. What that forest management will look like in the future, and whether Bush will be able to get his proposal to fly, is impossible to foresee. But it does appear that this year’s burn has sparked a new attitude toward forest management. For more information, you can log on to http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/healthyforests/sect1.html

WWPA says production is up
According to the Western Wood Products Association, year-to-date lumber production in the West through August totaled 12.03 billion board feet. That is up 6.6 percent from the same time frame last year. Production in August was 1.57 billion board feet, down 0.7 percent from August of 2001. Year-to-date production in the Coast region is up 12.7 percent compared to last year. And production in the Inland region is up 1.6 percent, while the California Redwood region is off 11.0 percent.

Fire Takes Mill
The Longview Fibre chip mill in The Dalles, Ore. burned this past August. The building was insured, although the logs were not. Company officials don’t anticipate the burn will affect the company financially. There is no decision as of yet whether the mill will be rebuilt. TW

This service is temporarily unavailable