BARK for Mt. Hood June 2008 Hike: LNG Pipeline Threat to Solo Old Growth
BARK for Mt. Hood June 2008 Hike: LNG Pipeline Threat to Solo Old Growth
Welcome!
BARK hike leaders:
Tarp Tarmac
Martin Evans
http://www.bark-out.org
Once again the Solo Timber Sale forests are threatened, this time by the Palomar Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline route.
Three hundred year-old show more...
giant Douglas firs, a rare remnant in the foothills of Mt. Hood, symbolize the Solo forests. After nearly a decade of fighting the Forest Service, these ancient trees were finally off the chopping block, until now.
BIG ENERGY backed LNG projects are aiming to make Oregon the west coast's import site for massive new supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas. http://www.oregonfirst.net http://www.columbiariverkeeper.org http://www.nolng.org
Among other substantial public good problems, the Bradwood LNG facility would require 40 miles of pipe to pass through the Mt. Hood National Forest on the way to the larger pipe line passing from Canada to Mexico.The Palomar Gas Transmission pipeline would basically be a 40 mile long clear cut, at least 120 feet in width, traversing a number of water sheds and a large number of creeks, streams and rivers along the way.
The Solo old growth three hundred year-old Douglas firs are once again in danger.
By Peter Zuckerman The Oregonian
Thursday,July 17, 2008
Edition: Sunrise, Section: Metro South
Proposed gas line through Solo old-growth stand spurs activists
Forest advocates gear up to fight the Palomar natural gas pipeline
"Six years after hundreds of activists sat in trees, sprayed pepper, threw bottles at police, got arrested, brought lawsuits and successfully stopped the Solo timber sale in the Mount Hood National Forest, they once again find themselves fighting to protect the forested area.
Maps of the proposed 211-mile Palomar natural gas line show a freeway-wide clear-cut that would bore through at least part of the Solo timber sale area, a region many activists consider symbolic of their victories against the U.S. Forest Service and the Bush administration to stop logging. The 160-acre sale area, which straddles Peavine Creek, contains large swaths of old-growth forest.
Activists said that if it became necessary, they anticipate waging similar battle to stop the clear-cutting they expect would happen to make way for the pipeline.
People who have walked what they believe to be the pipeline's route said the line would go through many regions of old-growth forest in the Solo timber sale area."
To view complete article, please see:
http://www.bark-out.org/content/article.php?section=news&id=502
Solo Timber Sale History:
Victory for Mt. Hood Old Growth!
After nearly 10 years of fighting the Solo and Borg Timber Sales the District Court rules in our favor!
Victory! After nearly a decade of fighting, these ancient trees are off the chopping block.
http://www.bark-out.org/content/article.php?section=news&id=319
The Solo and Borg Timber Sales were proposed in 1997 with the goal of clear-cutting the remaining islands of old-growth forest left in the Oak Grove Fork of the Clackamas River. Three hundred year-old giant Douglas firs, a rare remnant in the foothills of Mt. Hood, symbolize these sales. No laws protect these giants, but on one of Bark’s famous monthly hikes (always free to the public) we discovered a rare plant that is protected...except for the fact that the Forest Service had denied its existence. This discovery helped make the case in 2003 to District Court Judge Garr King that the Forest Service was ignoring its responsibility to survey for, and protect, rare plants and animals.
Judge King agreed with Bark and ruled in our favor, temporarily stopping logging in the Solo, Borg, Lone, Straw Devil, Canyon East, and Clark sites.* Specifically, the Forest Service was forced to release Supplemental Environmental Assessments (SEAs) for five all these projects and prove to the court that they were properly analyzing the impacts of the proposed logging. They complied, and on February 17, 2004, these supplemental analyses were released. The lack of information in these SEAs (clearly) demonstrated that the Forest Service was unwilling to allow rare plants and animals to get in the way of logging old growth in the Mt. Hood and Willamette National Forests. Bark took this new violation to Judge King and, on August 9, he issued another ruling; specifically, he suggested that “the Forest Service must supplement its SEAs to consider a full range of alternatives in light of the survey and manage duties and other environmental impacts from the proposed logging, including objectively considering the alternative of abandoning these projects” (emphasis added).
The Forest Service now has two choices: 1) Cancel the sales, or 2) Start from scratch and re-analyze the environmental impacts (including the impacts to rare plants and animals). The easiest option is for the Forest Service to cancel these ill-conceived timber sales. However, even if they choose not to, we can breathe easy for now because it will take the Forest Service at least a year to comply with Judge King’s order.
A big thank you to the hundreds of Barkers who wrote letters, groundtruthed the timber sales, surveyed for rare plants and animals, and encouraged others to help in the campaign to stop the Solo and Borg Timber Sales. And last, but not least, thank you to our co-plaintiffs and our attorney Pete Frost, with the Western Environmental Law Center!
*The Lone, Straw Devil, Canyon East, and Clark Timber Sales are in the Willamette National Forest. Bark was joined by co-plaintiffs Cascadia Wildlands Project and Oregon Natural Resources Council.show less...
BIG ENERGY backed LNG projects are aiming to make Oregon the west coast's import site for massive new supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas. http://www.oregonfirst.net http://www.columbiariverkeeper.org http://www.nolng.org
Among other substantial public good problems, the Bradwood LNG facility would require 40 miles of pipe to pass through the Mt. Hood National Forest on the way to the larger pipe line passing from Canada to Mexico.The Palomar Gas Transmission pipeline would basically be a 40 mile long clear cut, at least 120 feet in width, traversing a number of water sheds and a large number of creeks, streams and rivers along the way.
The Solo old growth three hundred year-old Douglas firs are once again in danger.
By Peter Zuckerman The Oregonian
Thursday,July 17, 2008
Edition: Sunrise, Section: Metro South
Proposed gas line through Solo old-growth stand spurs activists
Forest advocates gear up to fight the Palomar natural gas pipeline
"Six years after hundreds of activists sat in trees, sprayed pepper, threw bottles at police, got arrested, brought lawsuits and successfully stopped the Solo timber sale in the Mount Hood National Forest, they once again find themselves fighting to protect the forested area.
Maps of the proposed 211-mile Palomar natural gas line show a freeway-wide clear-cut that would bore through at least part of the Solo timber sale area, a region many activists consider symbolic of their victories against the U.S. Forest Service and the Bush administration to stop logging. The 160-acre sale area, which straddles Peavine Creek, contains large swaths of old-growth forest.
Activists said that if it became necessary, they anticipate waging similar battle to stop the clear-cutting they expect would happen to make way for the pipeline.
People who have walked what they believe to be the pipeline's route said the line would go through many regions of old-growth forest in the Solo timber sale area."
To view complete article, please see:
http://www.bark-out.org/content/article.php?section=news&id=502
Solo Timber Sale History:
Victory for Mt. Hood Old Growth!
After nearly 10 years of fighting the Solo and Borg Timber Sales the District Court rules in our favor!
Victory! After nearly a decade of fighting, these ancient trees are off the chopping block.
http://www.bark-out.org/content/article.php?section=news&id=319
The Solo and Borg Timber Sales were proposed in 1997 with the goal of clear-cutting the remaining islands of old-growth forest left in the Oak Grove Fork of the Clackamas River. Three hundred year-old giant Douglas firs, a rare remnant in the foothills of Mt. Hood, symbolize these sales. No laws protect these giants, but on one of Bark’s famous monthly hikes (always free to the public) we discovered a rare plant that is protected...except for the fact that the Forest Service had denied its existence. This discovery helped make the case in 2003 to District Court Judge Garr King that the Forest Service was ignoring its responsibility to survey for, and protect, rare plants and animals.
Judge King agreed with Bark and ruled in our favor, temporarily stopping logging in the Solo, Borg, Lone, Straw Devil, Canyon East, and Clark sites.* Specifically, the Forest Service was forced to release Supplemental Environmental Assessments (SEAs) for five all these projects and prove to the court that they were properly analyzing the impacts of the proposed logging. They complied, and on February 17, 2004, these supplemental analyses were released. The lack of information in these SEAs (clearly) demonstrated that the Forest Service was unwilling to allow rare plants and animals to get in the way of logging old growth in the Mt. Hood and Willamette National Forests. Bark took this new violation to Judge King and, on August 9, he issued another ruling; specifically, he suggested that “the Forest Service must supplement its SEAs to consider a full range of alternatives in light of the survey and manage duties and other environmental impacts from the proposed logging, including objectively considering the alternative of abandoning these projects” (emphasis added).
The Forest Service now has two choices: 1) Cancel the sales, or 2) Start from scratch and re-analyze the environmental impacts (including the impacts to rare plants and animals). The easiest option is for the Forest Service to cancel these ill-conceived timber sales. However, even if they choose not to, we can breathe easy for now because it will take the Forest Service at least a year to comply with Judge King’s order.
A big thank you to the hundreds of Barkers who wrote letters, groundtruthed the timber sales, surveyed for rare plants and animals, and encouraged others to help in the campaign to stop the Solo and Borg Timber Sales. And last, but not least, thank you to our co-plaintiffs and our attorney Pete Frost, with the Western Environmental Law Center!
*The Lone, Straw Devil, Canyon East, and Clark Timber Sales are in the Willamette National Forest. Bark was joined by co-plaintiffs Cascadia Wildlands Project and Oregon Natural Resources Council.show less...
