Jammin' in the Gifford Pinchot

In ETS #43, Stump Talk briefly discussed the Jammin' timber sale in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, but because the high volume of proposed cutting in this National Forest we believe the issue needs revisiting. This area, about 50 miles east of Vancouver, Washington, has 36 timber sales; more than 90 million board feet (mmbf) will be cut in areas totaling approximately 11,000 acres.

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest (GPNF) spans the Cascade Range from Tahoma (Mount Rainier) to Chawana (Columbia River) and from the Yakima Nation and Patoo (Mt. Adams) in the east to Lewit (Mt. St. Helens) in the west. The GPNF produced rising volumes of timber from the time wood was needed for the post-WWII housing boom until the peak forest feeding frenzy of the mid 90s, when it produced over 500 mmbf per year. Now in the post Owl injunction nineties, the GPNF is still pumping out over 70 mmbf per year. How are they doing this when other forests in Western Washington are struggling to find 10 mmbf per year? By blatantly and consistently violating the law and the rules designed to make logging on public lands sustainable and ecologically lighter than in the past. The GPNF's own figures show that they are currently cutting on harvestable land at approximately 20 mmbf per year more than those lands can produce. By continuing at this unsustainable level, the GPNF plans to liquidate all the old growth and native forests on harvestable land, then convert them to faster growing tree plantations. This is still business as usual despite a new forest plan and overwhelming public opinion against further old growth cutting.

The goal of the recently implemented Northwest Forest Plan (Option Nine) is to ensure that adequate habitat exists for the northern spotted owl and other old growth dependent species. To do this, large blocks of habitat were set aside in Late Successional Reserves (LSRs) which would see logging only to improve habitat for these species. On paper this looks great, but on the ground in the GPNF it is just the opposite. In the northern part of the forest only 38% of existing owl pairs reside in designated LSRs while the other 62% are threatened with continued logging of their home ranges. In the same plan much of the remaining roadless forest was designated for cutting, while much of the LSRs contain a high ratio of already cut forest currently in plantations, which don't provide any of the habitat requirements of old-growth-dependent species.

Despite directives from upper Forest Service administrators to stay out of roadless areas, the GPNF is still selling native and old growth forest within roadless areas in sales such as the Willame, Whip, and Jammin'. Roads are a big problem on the GPNF. Recent storms have caused poorly- designed roads to wash out, dumping tons of sediment into already unhealthy streams. These roads are being rebuilt with tax dollars from emergency road funds, thus giving the timber industry a further tax credit.

Here are some specifics about a few rogue forestry practices that the Forest Service is allowing:

The Patch Timber Sale. The proposed cutting of 33 acres of classic old growth forest severely limits the habitat requirements of seven spotted owls within the Patch. In the winter of 1995--96 Forest Service Road 28 to the Patch grove gave way, dumping its road bed into Yellowjacket creek. After an estimated repair cost of over $2 million from the initial failure and an additional wash out in the 1996--97 storms, taxpayers will now foot the bill to "fix" this road so the timber industry can further soak us for logging the last of the ancient forests on public land.

The McToo Timber Sale. Logging in the early spring of 1997 just downstream of the Indian Heaven Wilderness Area has led to further degradation of the Wind River watershed. Activists discovered and documented that logging had occurred within the riparian reserves that were designated as off limits under the new forest plan. Heavy equipment was used to drag logs up the seasonal creek to the road where they could be loaded on trucks for the High Cascade Timber Company. The Wind River, designated as a key watershed in the new forest plan, is supposed to be protected from further degradation.

The Jammin' Sale. Sold just days before the expiration of the "Salvage Rider," this sale has not a damn thing to do with salvage. Over ten million board feet of native old growth forest in the Little Huckleberry Mountain Roadless Area of the Little White Salmon River is slated to be hauled to Oregon for the Vanport Corporation. This sale has all three strikes against it: road building with tax subsidies, cutting forests in roadless areas, and logging within riparian reserves.

Environmental activists have picked the Jammin' sale area to set up a forest base camp to oppose the imminent destruction of this public treasure. To get involved, contact Cheetwoot Wilderness Coalition at 360-786-1549, Seattle Earth First! at 206-632-2954, or Pacific Crest Biodiversity Project at 206-545-3734.