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Possible Anti-Forestry Ballot Initiatives:

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by Rex Storm, Forest Policy Manager
Associated Oregon Loggers [5]

Possible Anti-Forestry Ballot Initiatives:

November’s general election might include three state-wide anti-forestry ballot initiatives—only if each petition clears two very tough hurdles by late July to qualify for the ballot. Although the petitions received the requisite sponsorship signatures, each must secure an approved title from the Attorney General; then, each must quickly obtain nearly 100,000 voter signatures. Petition #78 would ban forestry aerial spraying near water & homes; #79 would ban spraying & steep-slope harvest; and #80 would ban spraying, steep-harvest and clearcuts.

Industry Wins Salvage Case: In November, American Forest Resource Council won a federal Ninth Circuit Court victory in an environmentalist lawsuit challenging Bureau of Land Management timber salvage on a small portion of the 2013 Douglas Complex fire, located in SW Oregon. Judge Coffin denied the plaintiff’s request to enjoin logging in October, 2015. Salvage logging continued throughout the proceeding, and is now complete. The court ruling supports the scientific judgment of the BLM and US Fish & Wildlife Service professionals to salvage and reforest after wildfire.

Litigants Block Collaborative Projects: In recent months, environmental litigants have expanded their legal obstruction to block even those so-called “collaborative” projects on national forests. Obstructive lawsuits were filed by environmental organizations to block two large collaborated projects: Lost Ck/Boulder Ck project on Idaho’s Payette NF, and East Reservoir project on Montana’s Kootenai NF. American Forest Resource Council (AOL is a member) has intervened in legal proceedings on behalf of timber purchasers, counties, USFS, and the local collaboratives.