Forest Defenders Prepare To Fight BLM
Advocates of the Oregon Forest Are Prepared to Defend the Trees
© Jon Pike
Jun 19, 2009
Forest defenders in Oregon are preparing to spend the summer in the trees. Advocates for southern Oregon's forests are preparing to fight a Bureau of Land Management proposal for clear cutting part of the forests. The plan for selling the rights to harvest the timber goes under the acronym, WOPR: Western Oregon Plans Revision. Activists are planning a two-pronged attack on the plan consisting of legal battles in the courts and non-violent tree sitting.
The Background on WOPR
The Western Oregon Plans Revision was completed at the end of 2008. Critics of the plan say that it was part of a rush by outgoing Bush administration officials to fast track extraction-industry oriented plans to sell off parts of govern owned property. Critics have held similar views of plans in the American southwest to sell the rights to harvest oil and coal from areas near national park lands. 260 protests were filed with the Bureau of Land Management to halt the sale of timber rights in southern Oregon. The forest advocates say that the protests were ignored to hurry up the sale. WOPR is on hold until July 20. But advocates for the forest plan to take to the courts and the forests to halt the harvest. The sale would include 1,400 acres of clear cutting and an additional 200 acres of thinning.
Legal Challenges and Direct Action Against WOPR
The legal challenges against WOPR center around what critics say is a disregard to consult scientists over the potential for harm for several native species. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, who represents Oregon is proposing a federal ban on forests over 120 years old.
But activists are not forgetting direct action. Websites are promoting a summer of the practice called tree-sitting. Forest supporters hike into the woods and set up make shift homes in the canopies of the trees.
The Cascadia Wildlands Project is also sponsoring several off-trail hikes into the proposed areas for sale. The projects’ website shows people hugging trees, and cautions that their hikes will be rugged:
Hypothermia, broken bones, falling trees and branches, dermatitis, and even vehicle accidents are an inherent hazard to this activity and participants assume all personal risks and liabilities.Cascadia Wildlands Project cannot be held responsible for personal injury or property damage incurred during hike activities.
The organization is also prompting people via this site to write their lawmakers about the sale. The project is sponsoring the hikes through July.
