Tagged: Northwest logging

Restoration projects in Eastern Washington’s Colville National Forest are a model for the nation; that was the word from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack two years ago.  

And now those efforts are netting nearly a million dollars in new federal funding.

At the same time, funding has been renewed for another project in Washington: the Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative, near Yakima.

Three environmental groups intend to take Oregon's Department of Forestry to court over the effect logging has on a threatened seabird.

Oregon's timber dependent counties are still hoping for a federal rescue. But they're creating contingency plans in case Congress doesn't come through with a replacement for historic timber revenue.

Officials from eight counties met with Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber Monday to discuss their options. Some counties say they could become insolvent in the next year without additional funding.

SALEM, Ore. - The Oregon Land Board gave the go-ahead Tuesday to a plan that will dramatically ramp up logging in a state forest in the Oregon Coast Range. The action came amid protests.

Environmental groups bused in protesters from Portland and Eugene. Long-time activist Tre Arrow led the group in a sing-along outside the Land Board headquarters.

Tre Arrow: "The time is now for the people to rise up."

But the pleas were not enough to convince the Land Board. The panel consists of the Oregon Governor, Treasurer and Secretary of State. After the vote to approve an increased timber harvest, the room erupted in chants and jeers.

Protesters: "Kitzhaber lied, forests died."

Protester Mahogany Aulenbach came to Salem from Monroe, Oregon.

Medford, Ore. – The Pacific Northwest exported almost a billion board feet of unmilled logs to Asia in the first half of 2011.

That's enough to build about 70 thousand homes. It's also a 79 percent increase from 2010 exports, according to second quarter trade data just reviewed by Forest Service economist Debra Warren.