BARK for Mt. Hood April 2007 Groundtruthing Hike: Annie's Cabin Timber Sale

The article below is from the Portland Independent Media Center, July 5th, 2007.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/361818.shtml

TAKE ACTION NOW TO PROTECT MOLALLA RIVER RECREATION CORRIDOR. Annie's Cabin timber sale, a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposal to thin 566-acres within the Molalla River Recreation Corridor, contract has been rewarded to Freres Lumber Company. This timber sale would severely impact recreational trails designated for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding created by volunteers. Sensitive species such as Oregon Slender Salamanders, Red Tree Voles, and Tall Bughane have been found within this timber sale project and would also be impacted. Act now to contact Congresswoman Darlene Hooley to tell her office to urge the BLM to cancel this timber sale.

History of Trail System

16 of the 25 units of the Annie's Cabin timber sale either have the Molalla River Recreation Corridor's Shared-Use Trail System running through units or abutting the units with no buffers. This trail system was created in the 1990s when the BLM closed 13 miles of logging roads converting these roads into trails for hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian uses. In 1994, the BLM approved the development of 12 miles of additional single-track trails in partnership with volunteer organizations. Thinning of Unit #2 would impact Amanda's Trail, Mark's Trail, and Sandquist's Trail, three trails named for early advocates and builders of the trail system. We need to protect and preserve the scenic beauty of these trails that volunteers spent long hours to create and maintain!

Story of Annie

The timber sale name, Annie's Cabin, comes from a cabin that sits just north of Squirrel Creek on the east side of the Huckleberry Trail. Jim Williams, Annie Miller, and her daughter, Squirrel, used this cabin as their living room (a small trailer was next door) from June 1992 until December 1993. They were BLM volunteers who worked to improve the condition of the Molalla River Recreation Corridor. Jim's presence made a big difference in the Molalla River Recreation Corridor. He loved this area and worked hard to improve and protect it. Jim spent his last days there and died in October 1993. Annie and Squirrel left two months later. The cabin sits just 250 feet south of Unit #6 of the timber sale. We need to continue to protect Jim's vision!

Oregon Slender Salamanders

Volunteers in Bark have found Oregon Slender Salamanders, a State and Federal 'sensitive listed species, in Units 9 and 13. The BLM provides no plans in the Environmental Assessment and Decision Rationale on a way to protect this species from the logging operations. Oregon Slender Salamanders need dense canopy and course woody debris over 20 inches in diameter to survive in the forest. Logging operations on the ground and opening of canopy will very likely disturb this creature's habitat. According to the BLM's Decision Rationale, the agency also found this species in Unit 6, 16, 17, and 18. We need to get protection buffers placed on these Oregon Slender Salamanders!

Wildlife Nests

The BLM has removed 30 acres from Units 8, 9, 11, and 12 from the timber sale due to the discovery of red tree voles. A Survey & Manage listed species, red tree voles live in the canopies of old growth Douglas Fir trees and provide 50% of the diet of Northern Spotted Owls. We need an open process by the BLM for the public to comment on these red tree vole findings as well as information regarding the species living in 50 nests of trees within the timber sale found by Bark volunteers!

Steelhead and Chinook Salmon

The BLM did not address the cumulative effects by this timber sale, the surrounding lands, and future projects impacting Steelhead and Chinook Salmon that read and spawn along the Molalla River watershed. A creek just north of Unit #13 does not have the sixty foot buffer as required by the agency for perennial streams. We need buffers along both the perennial and intermittent streams longer than the minimum required by the BLM to protect the water quality for fish as well as drinking water!