Friends of the Columbia Gorge Appeals Major Creek Canyon Logging Decisions Made by U.S. Forest Service and WDNR
Contributed Photo. Major Creek canyon, zoned SMA Open Space, is supposed to be off-limits to commercial logging. Photo Credit: Kevin Gorman
Decisions would allow commercial logging in most restricted area of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, in violation of Scenic Area law and Gorge Management Plan
Source. Page 4 of CRGNSA Consistancy Determination SYNERGY Forest Practice, CD-20-02-S PARCEL/TAX LOTS # 04113600001100, 04123100000300, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Klickitat County, WA December 14th, 2020. According to Klickitat County Treasure’s Office, Synergy will owe a total of $206.27 in annual taxes on both lots in 2021.
Friends of the Columbia Gorge recently appealed decisions by the U.S. Forest Service and the Washington Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) that allow the logging of one-million board feet of timber (roughly equivalent to 250 logging trucks) within one of the most highly protected areas in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.
The Forest Service and WDNR decisions both approve a commercial logging project proposed by Synergy Resources LLC within a Gorge Special Management Area near Major Creek in Klickitat County which sits just east of the Catherine Creek area. Friends appealed the Forest Service decision in federal court on February 12 and appealed the WDNR decision to the Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board on March 3rd.
This is not the first time the Friends of the Columbia Gorge have pushed back against logging in the Major Creek Area. In 1988 Friends protected twenty-three acres of Major Creek Canyon’s virgin forest from being clear cut. The reasons cited in their newsletter were trees older than 200 years, sensitive Native American cultural sites, and a healthy highly specialized ecosystem and wildlife habitat.
Source. Picture from Friends of the Columbia Gorge’s 1988 Winter Newsletter
Source. Article from Friends of the Columbia Gorge’s 1988 Winter Newsletter
Legal status: Western gray squirrels are a protected species in Washington and cannot be hunted, trapped, or killed (WAC 220-200-100).
If you see this species, please share your observation using the WDFW wildlife reporting tool or email wildlife.data@dfw.wa.gov. Be sure to include a photo of the species for verification and location (latitude/longitude coordinates) of your observation.
In the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, there are six basic land use designations which are administered more forcefully in the Special Management Areas due to the high incidence of scenic, cultural, recreation, and natural resources. Special Management Area Open Space is the most restrictive of all the Scenic Area's land use designations and is vital to protecting key areas of the Gorge with sensitive resources. Commercial logging is prohibited on lands designated as Open Space.
Despite the highly-protected nature of the land, the proposed logging project would use an environmentally destructive practice, known as high-lead logging, which would drag logs using elevated cables along hillsides within sensitive, Gorge wildlife habitat. Among key species impacted could be northern spotted owl and western gray squirrel habitat, currently listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need under the Washington State Wildlife Action Plan and a Priority Species under the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Priority Habitat and Species Program. According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, "Priority Species require protective measures for their survival due to their population status, sensitivity to habitat alteration, and/or recreational, commercial, or tribal importance."
"If this logging project is allowed to go forward, a dangerous precedent would be set, nothing in the Gorge would be safe," said Friends Conservation Director Michael Lang. "Name any iconic place in the Gorge; if it has merchantable tree species, it could be logged under this interpretation of the National Scenic Area Act. Friends seeks to ensure sensitive areas in the Gorge are free from commercial logging as Congress intended," Lang stressed.
Impacts from habitat loss of mature forest are now worsened by the effects of competition with barred owls for prey and habitat. As the population declines and becomes even smaller, other threat factors may become more relevant.
If you see this species, please share your observation using the WDFW wildlife reporting tool or email wildlife.data@dfw.wa.gov. Be sure to include a photo of the species for verification and location (latitude/longitude coordinates) of your observation.
The decisions sidestep the issue of whether the activity is a commercial forest practice, which is prohibited in Special Management Area Open Space-designated lands. The suit also notes that The Forest Service did not require the completion of key wildlife species field surveys before approving the logging project. These actions violate Scenic Area law and, if not reversed, would undermine decades of safeguards developed to protect Scenic Area natural resources and allow destructive, commercial logging in one of the Gorge's most ecologically sensitive places.
"The Gorge Management Plan is clear: on lands designated Special Management Area Open Space, commercial logging is expressly prohibited," Friends Senior Staff Attorney Nathan Baker stated. "Despite that prohibition, the Forest Service and Washington Department of Natural Resources never bothered to scrutinize this project to determine whether it is, in fact, a commercial logging project," Baker added. "Private logging companies should not be given free passes by government agencies to commercially log the Gorge’s most sensitive locations, like what happened here."
General Background Information
The Columbia River Gorge is a place of unparalleled natural beauty with diverse wildlife, endangered salmon runs, five major ecosystems, 800 species of flowering plants, and rich cultural traditions. The National Scenic Area Act—the federal law that protects the bistate region—charged the U.S. Forest Service to protect and enhance federal lands and created the Columbia River Gorge Commission to protect and enhance the nonfederal lands in the 292,000 acres within the Scenic Area. In addition, the Washington Department of Natural Resources’ rules require them to comply with the Gorge Management Plan.
The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Management Plan requires these agencies to satisfy a number of procedural and substantive requirements during the process of determining whether a project is consistent with the National Scenic Area Act. One of these requirements includes field surveys for certain wildlife species within the project area, and identifying or verifying the sensitive wildlife areas and sites as well as delineating mandated buffers.
In its review document for the project, the Forest Service acknowledges the project area is within potential habitat for western gray squirrels and northern spotted owls and also admits the Management Plan requires a wildlife field survey once potentially sensitive wildlife are identified, yet effectively waives or ignores the guideline. The Washington Department of Natural Resources similarly approved the logging apparently without first requiring that all field surveys be completed.
Resources
Contact Washington Department of Natural Resources Here.
Contact U.S. Forest Service Here or email SM.FS.r6crgnsawfb@usda.gov.
· Friends Complaint Against U.S. Forest Service Decision
· Friends Appeal of WDNR Decision
· Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Management Plan
