Applegate Partnership helps BLM’s damaging logging with a letter to the court
Written by:
Meadowsweet Levi
I was extremely disappointed in the Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council’s (APWC) decision in April to send a letter to the court in support of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) logging in their Apple Saws, Holcomb Hollow, and Thom Bone Timber Sales that are part of BLM’s SOS logging project. The APWC sent the letter in support of the logging to the United States District Court, in response to the lawsuit and request for injunction that our local environmental group, Applegate Siskiyou Alliance (ASA), has filed against the BLM and these damaging logging projects.
ASA filed the lawsuit in March, and APWC sent their letter to the judge in support of the logging only a month later, extolling the virtues of the BLM logging recently implemented above Ruch.
At that time, most of the APWC board members had never been into the logged units of the Apple Saws or Holcomb Hollow timber sales to see the clearcuts, deep yarding scars, extensive logging of oak and madrone, torn-up earth, bulldozing through riparian areas, and the logging of green, living, and healthy Douglas fir trees. Many of the APWC board members also did not know that this letter in support of the logging was being sent to the court, and they did not support it.
This has caused a lot of controversy in the Applegate, as many are mystified that an organization that has a mission statement which reads, “Promoting ecological, economic and community well-being in the Applegate watershed through on-the-ground projects and strategic collaborations,” could be so calloused to the ecological and social harm these BLM logging projects are doing.
In their letter to the court, the APWC states, “We do not render any opinion herein about how the Apple Saws timber harvest has been implemented,” but they do, in fact, render an opinion when they send a letter in support of the logging to the court.
I was appalled because I know firsthand what damage this logging is creating because the BLM’s timber sale purchaser, Estremado Logging Company, is destroying the view from my house in Ruch, and I watch the logging progressing daily, and it is very upsetting to see the forests destroyed right in front of me. These were beautiful, green forests that have been turned into logged-over and damaged landscapes before my eyes.
This is a real-world, personal impact, akin to many of my neighbors who have had to witness the atrocities of the logging next to their houses this spring and summer on Ben Johnson Mountain, and who now have massive slash piles right next to their houses that could explode in a wildfire. BLM has increased the fire risks next to homes in Ruch with this irresponsible logging.
Save Applegate Forests for Everyone!
Meadowsweet Levi