Forwarded for your interest... >The Pacific Rivers Council >PO Box 10798 Eugene Oregon 97440 >Phone: 503/345-0119 Fax: 503/345-0710 > >News Release > > >September 20, 1994 >Contact: David Bayles 503 345 0119 > >PACIFIC RIVERS COUNCIL RELEASES >SCIENTISTS LETTER TO CLINTON-- >OPPOSES POST-FIRE SALVAGE LOGGING > >Eugene Oregon: "This has been a major fire year, and in the >aftermath of the fires, salvage logging plans are being rushed >forward nearly everywhere. This is major mistake. Salvage >logging and roadbuilding can truly turn this year's fires into a >disaster for the region's streams and fish. As far as fish are >concerned, salvage logging and the accompanying roadbuilding >is one of the most damaging management practices that could be >proposed," said David Bayles, Public Lands Director of the >Council. > >He continued: "Fires are not a disaster for streams or fish, but >you can turn fires into a disaster by salvage logging and >roadbuilding in the burned areas. Today we are releasing a letter >to President Clinton, signed by five of the nation's top aquatic >scientists. They strongly oppose a general public program of >salvage logging in the burned areas. The Pacific Rivers Council >supports the scientist's recommendations. We oppose a general >post-fire salvage program." > >"It is important to realize that fires by themselves are not >disasters for streams. The natural recovery of streams after fires >can actually result in improved fish habitat if we do not interfere >with the natural recovery processes. Fire-killed trees are a vital >part of both watershed and stream recovery. They provide part of >the natural environment for reseeding and regrowth of the >watershed, and they provide vital stabilizing structure in stream >channels and floodplains. If fire-killed trees are logged out of the >watershed, these functions, among others, are lost for decades, >even centuries. In addition, salvage logging and roadbuilding are >very large sources of man-made sediment -- this compounds the >effects of the fires themselves. Salvage logging has no >demonstrated benefits to the environment -- the idea that logging >is going to help is a myth." > >"A charred landscape is neither a disaster nor a crisis, and we >must not let the appearance of a crisis be used to promote >salvage logging that could harm the region's streams and fish for >decades. We call on the Clinton Administration to move rapidly >to develop a scientifically sound post-fire policy." > > > -30- > > >[END OF PRESS RELEASE] >[TEXT OF THE LETTER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON FOLLOWS:] > > > >The President 19 >September 1994 >The White House >Washington, DC 20500 > > >Dear Mr. President: > >This season has brought not only substantial and extensive >fires throughout much of the west, but also a renewed >debate on the relationship between fire and logging. >Throughout the region, post-fire salvage logging is being >proposed formally and informally as an appropriate or >even desirable reaction to the fires. Concerning the region's >streams and rivers -- and the fish and other species that >depend on those streams -- there is considerable scientific >reason to believe that salvage logging and the >accompanying roadbuilding is one of the most damaging >management practices that could be proposed for burned >areas. > >Fires can have substantial and seemingly negative effects >on streams, particularly smaller streams. Fires may affect >the delivery of sediment, the availability of woody debris >and other organic materials, and the cycling of nutrients. >While fires rarely kill fish outright, fires may directly affect >the food chains that ultimately support the fish. Most >importantly, fires can sometimes radically accelerate the >delivery of sediment to stream channels which -- if >compounded by management -- can produce chronic and >substantial loss of in-channel habitat, and seriously delay >the biological recovery of the stream. > >However, viewed at the right scale of time and space, fires >are not disasters for streams, indeed fires can induce >natural ecological changes that benefit streams and the >species that depend on them. The natural recovery of >streams after fires can result in improved fish habitat if we >do not interfere with the natural recovery processes that >initiate themselves soon after the fires are gone. Fire-killed >trees are a vital part of both watershed and stream >recovery, providing part of the natural environment of the >reseeding and vegetative recovery of the watershed, and >providing vital stabilizing structure in stream channels and >floodplains. If fire-killed trees are logged out of the >watershed, these functions, among others, are lost for >decades, even centuries. > >Fires by their nature are extremely patchy. The local effects >of a given fire can vary substantially from site to site, and >the impact of fire on streams may be correspondingly >variable. This year's fires are expected to have the greatest >effect on small streams, on streams whose headwaters >burned, in areas where fire intensity was high, and in areas >where fires consumed a larger proportion of the >watershed. Sediment impacts are greatest in areas of steep >slopes, shallow soils, unstable geologies, and where >thunderstorm or rain-on-snow intensity may be high. >Streams are most vulnerable in the first decade following >the fire. > >Management activities that reinforce negative effects or >undermine positive effects of fires must be avoided if >streams are to recover. In particular management activities >that add to the risk of increased sedimentation or that >remove ecologically important large wood from the >watershed present a substantial and long term threat to the >recovery of streams. In this regard, logging and >roadbuilding represent one of the most significant forces >threatening to retard stream and watershed recovery. >Logging and roadbuilding accelerate sediment delivery >rates, and are particularly risky to streams in areas of steep >slopes, shallow soils, unstable geologies, and intense >storms -- precisely the areas already at greatest risk from >the fires themselves. Roads distort the movement of >groundwater, surface water, and sediment through the >watershed and greatly increase the risk of mass failure -- >landslides and debris torrents. Both logging and >roadbuilding increase the risk and severity of scouring >floods that degrade aquatic food chains. Adding timber >harvest and road construction to an already fire-damaged >watershed can only have negative and potentially severe >effects. > >We know of no scientific reason to engage in salvage >logging or roadbuilding in burned areas and we know of >many sound reasons not to. Logging produces no known >benefits to the streams, and entails very serious risks. We >therefore strongly oppose a general public program of >salvage logging and the accompanying roadbuilding in >burned areas, simply because they have burned. > >A patchy burned landscape may appear to be a catastrophe >for the streams, but it is not. Neither is it a crisis. We must >not allow the appearance of crisis to be used to promote >ecologically inappropriate logging that may seriously >retard natural recovery -- eventually even enhancement -- >of the region's streams. As scientists, we believe the >nation's public lands need a sound postfire policy, and we >stand ready to assist in the development of that policy if >that is desired. > >Very respectfully yours, > >(Signed) > >G. Wayne Minshall >Professor of Ecology, >Idaho State University > >Judy L. Meyer >Professor of Ecology, >University of Georgia > >Jack A. Stanford >Jessie M. Bierman Professor, >Flathead Lake Biological Station >The University of Montana > >James R. Karr >Director, >Institute of Environmental Studies >University of Washington > >Christopher A. Frissell >Research Assistant Professor, >Flathead Lake Biological Station >University of Montana >Research Associate, >Oregon State University > >cc: >J. W. Thomas, Chief, USDA-FS >Mike Dombeck, Director, BLM >Governor Barbara Roberts >Governor Cecil Andrus >Governor Mike Lowry >Governor Pete Wilson >Governor Michael Leavitt >Governor Robert Miller >Governor Mike Sullivan >Governor Mark Racicot >Senator Robert Byrd >Senator Mark Hatfield >Senator Bob Packwood >Senator Slade Gorton >Senator Patty Murray >Senator Malcolm Wallop >Senator Alan Simpson >Senator Orrin Hatch >Senator Robert Bennett >Senator Max Baucus >Senator Conrad Burns >Senator Harry Reid >Senator Richard Bryan >Senator Larry Craig >Senator Dirk Kempthorne >Senator Barbara Boxer >Senator Dianne Feinstein >Representative Sidney Yates >Representative Harold Volkmer >Representative George Brown >Representative Gary Condit >Representative Calvin Dooley >Representative Jay Inslee >Representative Pat Williams >Representative Robert Smith >Representative John Doolittle >Representative Richard Pombo >Representative Norman Dicks >Representative Julian Dixon >Representative Vic Fazio >Representative Nancy Pelosi >Representative Esteban Torres >Representative Jerry Lewis >Representative Barbara Vucanovich >Representative Ron Packard >Representative George Miller >Representative Pat Williams >Representative Richard Lehman >Representative Peter DeFazio >Representative Karen Shepherd >Representative Howard Berman >Representative James Hansen >Representative Elton Gallegly >Representative Craig Thomas >Representative Ken Calvert > > >
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