Act Now for the Wild Siskiyou!

Picture: Babyfoot Lake, after the Biscuit Fire.

"There has not been an outside influence to push us one direction or the other," Scott Conroy, Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor, quoted in the Medford Mail Tribune, November 18, 2003.

Picture: Bush speaking in Medford during the Biscuit Fire about the need for increased logging.

Biscuit Fire Recovery Project Notes

1.     The Preferred Alternative will log 504 million board feet through aggressive "salvage" and also log 14 million more board feet to create "fuel management zones" for a total of 518 million board feet.

2.    Under the Preferred Alternative, 309 miles of "fuel management zones" will be created. 

3.    The Preferred Alternative proposes to log more than 12,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas. 

4.    Roads should not be reconstructed and primitive routes (such as the McGrew Trail) should be closed. 

5.    The proposal to turn recreational trails into "Fuel Management Zones" should be abandoned.

6.  Wild and Scenic River and eligible Wild and Scenic River watersheds should have no post-fire logging.  Natural regeneration should be allowed to occur for biological and recreational reasons.  This is the most effective manner of protecting and enhancing the “outstandingly remarkable qualities” of these rivers.

7.  Entire watersheds, not just corridors or riparian areas, determine a river’s water quality and fishery values.  All the lands impacted by the Biscuit Fire should be allowed to recover without undue salvage impacts. 

8.  Roadless Areas should be maintained in their pristine state with no post-fire logging allowed. 

9.  There should be absolutely no post-fire logging in Riparian Areas.  Logging in riparian areas would disturb in-stream wood and cause soil damage. 

10. Port Orford cedar is an important component of riparian areas effected by the Biscuit Fire.  Port Orford Cedar disease could spread easily through Forest Service actions, or through actions enabled by the Forest Service, and could seriously degrade the aquatic health of infected areas.