March 23, 2005

Forest land closed to public through July

By Robert Plain
Ashland Daily Tidings

As the logging of old growth areas was being debated in District Court on Tuesday, the public was being removed from the entrance to the Fiddler Mountain area of the Siskiyou National Forest by the Bureau of Land Management.

On March 15, environmentalists set up a camp on the 43-acre parcel managed by the BLM that is adjacent to the Green Bridge location on Eight Dollar Road, where the protesters were removed last week.

Max Yager, a staff administrator with BLM, said the closure was enacted for "public safety" reasons. He said a police report on Sunday indicated that nails had been spread on the road that leads to the Fiddler Timber sale where loggers are currently falling and removing trees affected by the 2002 Biscuit Fire.

Lauren Regan, a lawyer with the Civil Liberties Defense Council who has been monitoring the protests and the logging operation on behalf of the Cascadia Wildlands Center, said she had heard of no such police report.

"They are basically punishing the people who did not do anything like that," she said. "Just because one person may have put nails in the road doesn't mean the Forest Service or BLM can suppress the free speech rights of the other law abiding citizens who are there to monitor and witness the timber sale program."

Laurel Sutherlin, who has been monitoring the logging operations for several weeks now, said there have been no nails spread on the road.

"It's a complete act of intimidation and harassment," he said. "There is no rationale or reason. It was a totally legal encampment and they kicked us out. The first closure was unconstitutional but this goes beyond unconstitutional."

Regan said this timber sale and logging project received the most public comments warning against it in the history of the Forest Service. "And now they want to prevent people from monitoring it," she said.

Sutherlin added, "It makes you wonder what they are trying to hide up there. First the people were shut out of the public process and now the people are being shut out of the forest."

Sutherlin spoke from a peaceful rally at the corner of Highway 199 and Eight Dollar Road. Two weeks ago, this ongoing protest was launched from the green bridge on Eight Dollar Road, which leads to the Fiddler timber sale, part of a controversial program to log fire-affected, old-growth forests. On March 15, the Forest Service closed that camp and the rally was moved to the BLM land on the other side of the green bridge.

The closure was enacted at 10 a.m. on Monday and will last until July 1, unless otherwise rescinded. If a citizen would like to access the Wild and Scenic Illinois River or Babyfoot Lake, which are popular recreation areas located behind the closure, they must apply for a permit 24 hours in advance with either BLM of the Forest Service.

Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or bplain@dailytidings.com.