For his senior year, Mike LaGattuta came to the University from Arizona, mostly because of the outdoor activities available in Oregon, such as hiking. But the quality of Oregon’s hiking may decline if the Western Oregon Plan Revision succeeds, clear-cutting nearly 3 million acres of forest and increasing old-growth logging by 700 percent.
This afternoon, members of Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group’s Keep It Wild campaign, which is focused on preserving the state’s natural landscape, are organizing Walk Against WOPR, a rally starting in the EMU Amphitheater and ending at the Federal Building on Pearl Street and East 7th Avenue.
“I don’t even think I’m that radical,” said LaGattuta, media organizer for the Keep It Wild campaign. “I’m just like, ‘Why don’t we not completely cut down all the trees left in Oregon?’”
The protest will being at 11:30 a.m. with music, speakers and letter writing. The actual walk will begin at approximately noon. Upon arriving downtown, the group will deliver petitions for Rep. Peter DeFazio and Sen. Ron Wyden, urging them to publicly denounce WOPR, a Bureau of Land Management proposal.
The day’s speakers will include Commissioner Peter Sorenson; University graduate student Samantha Chirillo of Cascadia’s Ecosystem Advocate; Roy Keene, a sustainable forester; and Day Owen of the Pitchfork Rebellion, an activist group.
“Since (BLM hasn’t) released an economic impact statement, we can only wonder where the money is going,” said University student Carly Barnicle, one of the Keep It Wild campaign organizers.
OSPIRG members made a poster shaped like Oregon, alongside which was a list of reasons they oppose WOPR including its impact on rural property values, clean water levels and wildlife such as elk and northern spotted owls, which are endangered.
“In 2000, the logging industry had spent $2 million funding the Republican campaign so in a sense, this is like political payback,” Barnicle said. “I just think it’s ridiculous, clear-cutting trees older than the nation for short-term economic growth, if that. It just seems like a very short-sighted policy.”
LaGattuta said his goal is to raise awareness about this issue.
“This state is really involved in itself,” he said. “People take pride in forests, people take pride in the outdoors, people take pride in the system of government. This WOPR plan just seems like no one in this state would ever be for it.”
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