Voices from the Umpqua from Cascadia Wildlands on Vimeo.
From Cascadia Wildlands
The Bureau of Land Management in western Oregon is sure feeling emboldened under the Trump administration and its clearcut-focused, new forest plan. This is on full display on the North Umpqua River right now, with the agency’s proposed Umpqua Sweets timber sale.
Absent immediate intervention, 2,000 acres of public forest, some of it located just above the banks of the famed North Umpqua River, will be turned into stumpfields.
Cascadia Wildlands, rural neighbors in the area, and Umpqua River enthusiasts have been working overtime to stop this recklessness in its tracks through field visits, submitting technical comments, activating the public and other grassroots organizing tactics.
Just today, we released a short, compelling video, “Voices from the Umpqua,” showcasing the locals who live around this area and what is at stake with the proposed Umpqua Sweets timber sale.
MAKE A DONATION to the North Umpqua Defense Fund.
TAKE ACTION to help us stop this unpopular clearcut proposal.
This outstanding area is treasured for its stately forests, salmon and steelhead, clean water, carbon storage, and all the recreation values it offers, like fishing, hiking, biking, camping and rafting. The Umpqua Sweets timber sale proposal threatens these closely held values, and must be stopped.
Read more background on the proposed Sweets timber sale at the following links:
Vol 1. Down By the Riverside
Vol 3. The Eye of God
Vol 4. Community
Thank you for standing with us today to defend the outstanding North Umpqua from irresponsible management.
I’m a fish biologist, fly fishermen, and lover of the North Umpqua. I raft, fish, hike, and take my two kids up there to swim. I love the Caddisfly Blog as well. I just wanted readers of this blog to know that there is a fair amount of misleading information in this video. Fact checking is important these days and here are some facts on BLM timber sales. 1. EVERY stream (including intermittent streams) in a timber sale gets a 120′ hard buffer (no commercial harvest). 2. The BLM does not do timber harvest in a Wild & Scenic River corridor that will modify the “viewshed” (i.e. no clear cut harvesting). 3. The BLM implements a number of Project Design Features (PDF’s) to protect fish, riparian areas and streams so that there is very little to no impact to these resources from timber sales. These are just a few facts on BLM timber sales, please read our Resource Management Plan at the link below for more information on our PDF’s or protections for Riparian Areas or Streams.
https://www.blm.gov/or/plans/rmpswesternoregon/
I’m not saying that BLM timber sales are perfect, but they do have a lot of protections in place for streams, rivers, and fish. I think it’s important to deal in facts when discussion land management actions and not base your opinion on misleading videos. Thanks.
I would just add one more thing. These are YOUR public lands. The public always has a voice in land management decisions. If you don’t like specific aspects of a planned timber sale, then contact the Roseburg BLM office and voice your opinions. The best way to be effective is to be specific (i.e. I disagree with XX in YY timber sale unit, not I don’t like this sale). If our managers hear from enough of the public that don’t like certain aspects of timber sales, then they are likely to alter the action on the ground to accommodate those concerns. Just keep in mind, that we have laws that require us to harvest timber off of BLM lands, so until the laws change the BLM will continue to look at locations to commercially harvest timber in the most environmentally friendly way it can.