These green trees (above) were cut during the logging of Old Growth reserves at Fiddler Mountain area, part of the Biscuit logging project. The excuse for logging these green trees was that they needed to cut them to make way for a helicopter landing.

The Forest Service refused to spare popular recreational site such as the Babyfoot Lake Trail head (shown above) which leads into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.
Onion Camp was a popular birding site and hiking trails before logging operations cleared snags used by woodpeckers and other birds. Removing the shade cover provided by snags, causes planted trees to burn up in the summer heat. New visitors will see new clearcuts next to 20 year old crearcuts that never recovered.April 20, 2005:  Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, Unit 2, Forest Road 4201-141.  Wetseason logging operations has left this road muddy.  This road is normally closed behind a Port Orford Cedar gate.  Port Orford cedar, a rare and special tree of the Siskiyou, is suffering due to exposure of a fatal root disease which is a water born illness that travels on vehicles and logging equipment. April 20, 2005: Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, Unit 2, Forest Road 4201-141, Onion Camp.  Onion Camp is a favorite recreation location, near to Babyfoot Lake.  The area once visited by hikers now is visited by heavy vehicle use and logging operations. April 20, 2005, Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, Unit 2.  Theses trees right above Oncion Camp, were orignially pointed with orange leave paint.  Now these trees have been reidentified with blue=cut paint. April 20, 2005: Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, Unit 2.  Logging in this sensitive area full of wetlands and the very headwaters of Babyfoot Creek.April 20, 2005: Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, Unit 2, Riparian channels are suppossed to receive a 174 ft riparian buffer, unfortunately this channel did not recieve proper protection.
April 20, 2005: Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, Unit 2, Forest Road 4201-141 is usually off limits to vehicle use due to Port Orford Cedar management - instead logging operations are using ATVs to get around leaving the ground very muddy.  Such activity is condusive to spreading the fatal Port Orford Cedar root disease.April 20, 2005:  Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, logs stacked above Unit 12.

April 20, 2005: Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, Helicopter operations yarding Unit 17, stacking logs on Forest Road 4201.April 4, 2005:  Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale.  Unit 17 logs cut on ground.
March 30, 2005: Fiddler Old Growth Timber Sale, old growth logs leaving the forest.  These big old trees will not return in our lifetime, in our children's lifetime, our children's children's lifetime and so on.

LOGGING has devastated much of the old-growth reserves in the Babyfoot Lake/ Fiddler Mountain area including serious violations to the Babyfoot Lake Botanical Area. The Forest Service is spending enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars to facilitate the logging of these areas prior to a court case that would test the legality of this extreme logging.

Logging has been completed above the National Wild & Scenic Illinois River at the Mcguire Timber sale. Click here for more information. Now the FS want to log into the roadless areas, click here for more information.

STOP the CLEARCUTTING.

Photo above taken July 23rd at the Fiddler Timber Sale by Rolf Skar.

Now, more than ever, we need elected officials, especially Senator Ron Wyden, to take a stand against lawless logging. The Siskiyou Project and other conservation groups have asked Wyden to speak out against the Forest Service's plans to log old growth in the Siskiyou Mountains, but so far he has failed to do so.

You can send a free, instant fax at www.siskiyou.org

Ask elected officials and the Forest Service:
1. To immediately halt the logging of old-growth reserves in the Siskiyou and allow full judicial review.
2. To protect roadless Siskiyou forests by preventing the auction of roadless logging sales such as the Mike’s Gulch logging project.

Senator Ron Wyden
Portland: (503) 326-7525
DC: (202) 224-5244

Congressman Peter DeFazio
Oregon: 1-800-944-9603
DC: (202) 225-6416

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski
Phone: (503) 378-4582

Linda Goodman
Regional Forester (Oregon & Washington)
Phone: (503) 808-2200

Scott Conroy
Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor
Phone: (541) 858-2210

OUTSIDE OF OREGON:
In addition to calling the Forest Service officials above, you can call the
Capitol Switchboard and ask for your members of Congress
(202) 224-3121
To find out who your members of Congress are, go to: www.congress.org

MORE INFO

Old-Growth Logging Destroying Habitat
Old-growth reserves were set-aside in the Northwest Forest Plan in order to safeguard habitat for rare plants and animals that depend on older forests to survive. In the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area, fire is a natural part of these forests, and the reserves that burned in the 2002 have begun rejuvenating naturally. The big, old-growth legacy trees created by the fire are a key building-block of this recovery and critical to protect soils and provide wildlife habitat, but the Forest Service is targeting them for logging. Doing so destroys critical habitat for birds and other wildlife, increases the risk of erosion, and puts the region's fragile salmon and steelhead runs in danger.

Court Challenge to Logging May be Moot
The Siskiyou Project is leading a plaintiff group that has taken the Forest Service to court in order to bring justice back to our Siskiyou forests. However, the first case will not be heard until March 22 and a legal injunction lifted Monday allows for trees to be logged until a decision is rendered. By the time a court could decide that logging old growth in the Siskiyou is illegal, the case could be declared moot because the forests in question will be cut down. Twenty-three people have been were arrested this week in an attempt to delay the logging, and as 72 year-old Joan Norman said as she was being arrested, "We have no laws protecting our forests so we will be the law."

    

More info on FIDDLER MOUNTAIN & BABYFOOT LAKE AREA

The seven logging sales mentioned above put many irreplaceable landscapes at risk.  The Fiddler Mountain and Babyfoot Lake area, a beautiful place graced by native, unroaded forests, rare flowers, scenic views and wonderful hiking trails, is a prime example.  It is also one of the areas most at risk of imminent logging.  Near the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in southwestern Oregon’s Siskiyou Wild Rivers area, Fiddler Mountain is loved by people locally and across the region.
 
The Bush Forest Service put Fiddler Mountain on the chopping block and sold it for a minimum, subsidized bid price.  As a result, 14.7 million board feet of logging could take place across 697 acres of native forest at heavy taxpayer expense.  As a whole, the Biscuit logging project is running far over budget, costing taxpayers much more than the Forest Service originally forecast.  The larger Biscuit logging project threatens to cost taxpayers between $10 and $30 million.

 In addition, the Forest Service is currently logging old-growth legacy trees on Squaw Mountain as part of the Briggs Cedar logging sale.  The Forest Service has recently painted over orange "leave tree" markings on many of the largest trees in the area with blue "cut" paint.  As a result, the Briggs Cedar logging sale suddenly includes much more old-growth legacy tree logging than when it was originally planned.  Logging is proceeding despite wet weather conditions that may increase erosion and the threat of spreading the lethal Port-Orford-cedar root disease.

  

Fiddler Mountain , like much of the unprotected areas of Siskiyou National Forest, has evidence of past logging. Some of the old clearcuts have been replanted up to three times. Yet, burned snag areas in the Fiddler logging sale area are recovering with abundant young conifer seedlings.

Both the headwaters of Fall Creek and Rancherie begin in this area. The Illinois River Corridor was included in the USFS Final Environmental Impact Statement as "fish use designations" and "salmon & steelhead spawning use designations." Sediment runoff from logging in the Fiddler sale area would damage the wild and scenic habitat of the Illinois River.

The Fiddler logging sale bordering the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Inventoried Roadless areas, hosts a biological treasure chest and recreational paradise within the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area. Douglas Fir, White Fir, Red Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Sugar Pine, Western White Pine, Incense Cedar, Port Orford Cedar, and Brewers Spruce are some of the conifer trees found in the Fiddler mountain area. Woodpeckers are busy foraging snag trees, the common hairy woodpecker is abundant, and pileated woodpecker calls are heard in many units marked for cutting.

You can help save the Babyfoot Lake and Fiddler Old Growth Reserves. Join the Siskiyou Project by clicking on the secure link here.

TAKE ACTION NOW! Please send an urgent fax here.