FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

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OPPOSE TIMBER SALES AT COOPER SPUR NEAR MT. HOOD IN OREGON

The northeast side of Mt. Hood encompasses the Middle Fork and East Fork watersheds of the Hood River. Logging is proposed in this area for 1,350 acres of ancient forest reserve at the base of the mountain, near the tree-line in the area of Cooper Spur.  All of the lower Cooper Spur's old growth is unprotected, and these timber sales are currently, but indirectly, tied to the Cooper Spur destination resort planned simultaneously on this side of the mountain.  Ski resort construction will likely occur after this area is logged.

The Polallie-Cooper Project, comprised of three individual sales (Clan, Kilt, and Tartan, as well as the Clear Timber sale) adjacent to the Mt. Hood Wilderness Area, will degrade most remaining low-elevation forest in these watersheds.  Drinking water quality will likely be compromised in the Hood River Valley, and chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout spawning grounds will be affected.  Migratory paths of raptors on the Pacific Flyway will also be affected.  Harlequin ducks will lose this area, which is their primary breeding area.  They are relatively unknown throughout the rest of Oregon (outside of this particular area of the Mt. Hood National Forest).

The Forest Service's stated goal for fire-risk-reduction in the Wildlands/Urban interface (primarily within 60-200 feet of existing Cooper Spur buildings) encompasses only 94 acres of the logging in the Clan and Kilt timber sales, just 7 per cent of all these combined projects.  These sales are a prime example of faulty fire science being used to log big trees.

The Clan sale has been sold to High Cascade, Incorporated.  The auctions for the other two sales in the Polallie-Cooper proposal have been postponed, and no logging can occur on the Clan sale pending resolution of the Polallie-Cooper lawsuit.  Scoping on the logging process is occurring in connection with the old-growth forest of the Clear timber sale.

Because 1,350 acres of ancient forest, which is a reserve for the spotted owl , is near the area and is tied into its development, and because development will degrade water quality and these low-elevation watersheds and spawning grounds, the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs opposes these timber sales.


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