Responding to a decrease in state timber revenue, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar unveiled a plan last week to increase timber harvests for Western Oregon forests.
The 2010 work plan for the Bureau of Land Management emphasizes short-term economic stability for the state logging industry and supported communities.
Salazar assured constituents these harvests would be sold quickly and easily because of their non-controversial features. The 62 proposed timber sales, which amount to 230 million board feet, must pass endangered species consultations and are intended to be solely “trimming” sales as opposed to clear-cutting.
Salazar estimated that 85 percent of the proposed harvest in Oregon and 100 percent of the Eugene district’s logging will be tree-thinning. In the Eugene timber district, a total of 51.5 million board feet will be sold.
“Our sales are focusing on only thinning and younger cuts in areas void of endangered species and old growth,” said Eugene District BLM spokesperson Doug Huntington. “The idea is that we can offer sales that can be sold and rewarded promptly, avoiding drawn-out controversy.”
According to Huntington, the BLM’s timber specialists review all the current regulations and discuss land with state environmental agencies before putting a sale on the market. 
“We like to think we have avoided all issues before the timber is sold,” Huntington said.
So far, 46 of the 62 proposed sales are compliant with the Endangered Species Act, according to Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson Joan Jewett. Jewett said that if their surveyors find high quality habitat in a proposed sale area, the service will provide technical assistance to BLM to “help revise the sales to reduce adverse impacts.”
In addition to selecting altercation-free harvests, the BLM also has made a deal with all logging companies that purchased land from it in the last two years, letting them return portions of unharvested previously purchased land for a refund. This arrangement will help renew income for timber companies struggling to sell lumber for at least the price they bought it for. Land returned to the BLM will be environmentally and financially reassessed to eventually be put back into the timber sale pipeline.
ASUO Environmental Advocate Daniel Rottenberg said he is pleased with Salazar’s plan.
“I am encouraged to see science playing an important role (in timber harvesting) once again, especially during these desperate economic times,” Rottenberg said.
Along with many student and state environmental activism groups, Rottenberg was opposed to the Western Oregon Plan Revision, BLM’s 2009 timber plan under the Bush administration that was put on hold and revised under the new presidency. The 2009 plan was contested and ultimately withdrawn in July because of its failure to meet the Endangered Species consultation requirements. Last week’s report is the first announcement of Western Oregon timber harvesting since WOPR’s recall.
After seeing the Oct. 14 announcement of timber sales, Rex Storm, Forest Policy Manager for the Associated Oregon Loggers, said his first reaction was to laugh.
“It was entirely political propaganda,” Storm said. “It shows how far the Department of the Interior will go to show the public how everything is different and better, when in reality, nothing has changed.”
Storm said Salazar had “no legal authority” to announce a change in timber sales, and that there has been no change in the BLM’s plan to log in Western Oregon for the last few years.
“This is just a false premise to assure us that things are looking up, when it’s a much slower process,” Storm said. “Oregonians should be insulted by this shameful act.” In reality, the amount of timber expected to be harvested in 2010 has not fluctuated significantly from last year, only increasing by 30 million board feet, but it is simply being
harvested in a less controversial environment.
Chandra LeGue, Eugene spokesperson for the state environmental organization Oregon Wild, said the timber harvests announced in the Eugene area are mostly a continuation of BLM’s previous timber sales, although the reduction of clear-cutting is important.
“We think that clear-cutting in public forests is outdated and inappropriate,” LeGue said. “Thinning forests is a sustainable and more long-term solution to timber harvesting.”
When it comes to the future of the timber industry, the BLM has high hopes.
“The timber market is always cyclic,” Huntington said. “We have a strong belief that the market will improve, but until then, this short-term relief is vital.”

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