Monthly Archives: July 2018

Doug Cook

PRIEST RIVER — “Insanity.” That might be the first word that comes to Doug Cook’s mind when asked what kept him in the timber industry for 50 years, but it was not his only answer. “I loved every bit of it,” Cook said. “I loved the years of logging and enjoyed the people I worked around and the people I worked for….” It was for that passion and dedication, as well as his extensive career in the local timber industry, that Cook was named this year’s Bull of the Woods by the Priest River Chamber of Commerce. …To receive the Bull of the Woods honor, nominees are required to have worked in some area of the timber industry for the majority or entirety of their career — Cook started at the age of 9.

MONUMENT RIDGE – Protesters gather to prevent the logging of the Monument Ridge area, West of Rio Dell. They believe logging of the area could cause harm to the Mattole River’s ancient forest. The logging company plans to harvest 250 acres of non-old growth trees. Their mission is defining and protecting groves and individual old growth tress. But the protesters don’t want loggers to touch anything past the gate. The Humboldt Redwood company told us they will take anyone on the property and show them what they have planned. They want it to be known they won’t be cutting down any old growth trees.

The head of the U.S. Forest Service, interim Chief Vicki Christiansen promised Tuesday that the way the Forest Service does business is going to change. “We have great opportunity and we have significant challenges and this is not going to be business as usual,” she said. Specifically, Christiansen said the permitting process for guides and other recreational services is going to get easier on National Forest Lands, and cooperative agreements between industry and the Forest Service are going to be more common. …Christiansen also mentioned a company that’s hoping to revolutionize construction. Katerra, a California-based company, creates cross-laminated timber and glulam. The products can replace concrete and steel in wooden high-rise buildings and parking garages. They also can be used for other applications, such as walls and flooring. …Katerra is planning to build a factory in Spokane Valley.

MEDFORD, Ore. — Fire agencies are doing what they can to contain the dozens of wildfires burning throughout the western states. But with so many to handle, there’s really no perfect plan of attack. Northwest lawmakers have been putting out a call to thin out our forests. In May Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley led legislation to extend the Farm Bill and double it’s funding, alongside Idaho Senator Mike Crapo. …Sen. Merkley told NBC5 News he believes thinning is the best strategy to reduce wildfire risk, but adds that even with the Farm Bill, not enough is being done. “We need the federal government to invest a lot more resources than they are right now,” Sen. Merkley said.

The West is way behind on reducing the buildup of hazardous fuels we created. And much of the work we do to reduce those fuels is missing the key ingredient: fire. …A century of aggressive fire suppression left forests dense with too many trees, too much brush and too many dried-out leaves, twigs and needles. Combined with hotter and drier weather, those overloaded forests stoked a new era of extreme fire. The timber industry and environmental groups alike recognize the need to rid the forest of those fuels before wildfire ignites them. As it stands, the Forest Service and Interior Department spend millions of dollars on hazardous fuels but treat a fraction of the acres needed each year to prevent the buildup from worsening. …The reality is both thinning and burning are going to need to increase dramatically if they’re going to make a noticeable difference during projected longer, hotter fire seasons. 

While deciding whether to shrink Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Interior Department officials focused on the land’s logging potential.  The information was revealed in mistakenly-released documents. Conservation groups are frustrated by revelations in The Washington Post that Interior Department officials focused on the logging value in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument — and not the biological diversity the monument was designated to protect. Dave Willis is with the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, a conservation group working to protect the monument. He said it’s a very important biological corridor, connecting three mountain ranges in Southern Oregon and Northern California. …Logging groups say President Obama should not have been able to expand the monument. Parts of the expansion included what are known as O&C lands, which were designated by Congress for timber production.