"Larry Caldwell" wrote in message

I wasn't aware of that one. It was going on at the same time as the
China Left protests in the Siskiyou National Forest, which was, BTW, a
model thinning operation.

I remember China Left. Don't think I saw it firsthand, but it sounds
similar to Sphinx, which brought the mayor of Salem out to protest because
of steep slope logging over Salem's watershed.

While the protest was going on and the goons were running around filming
everybody, a friend of mine and I slipped over the line and hiked right up
to the operation. Ran smack into a USFS cop, who ended up giving us a
tour, showing us the operation (goons following us with cameras like
paparazzi.) We counted the pieces of heavy equipment, checked out the
cutting area and even got a tour of a "selective clearcut" under the Clinton
plan. Most notably, there wasn't a single yarder or piece of unassembled
yarding equipment. It simply wasn't a steep slope operation.

On the way out, the goons offered us a ride down in their pickup. They
knew that if we showed up in the back of their truck we'd have no
credibility with the people down at the protest, which was counterproductive
because what we told the CFA guys and I think even the mayor of Salem is,
"it's not as bad as people are saying."

At the base the goon pulled me aside and said "I worked in the FBI for 15
years. I know what you're up to." The asswipe seemed a little concerned
when we told him the name of the company (a front) that leased his truck,
and told him his name.

I did some web sleuthing on Tobe West, but couldn't find any sites that
had any actual information. I did find one fish survey at

http://www.midcoas****ershedcouncil..../pdf/50116.pdf

I'll have to dig out my aerial photos. I circled overhead while my friend
in the passenger seat photographed the entire operation. What a rush!
That was a nasty one but it didn't have nearly as many arrests involved as
Enola Hill and places like that.

that indicates Tobe Creek isn't much for fish. It has less than 1 smolt
per square mile for sections, and no smolts at all for the rest of the
creek.

I wonder how that compares to before the operation.

Of course, what Hull-Oakes did is ...

Is that mill still open? If it is, it would be the last large log mill
in the PNW.

I'm pretty sure it still is. It's near Alpine or one of those little towns
south of Corvallis. Private company, not a major corporation or anything,
and not nearly as big as Freres Brothers (I tried to order their court
documentation for felony timber theft one time, and at about a dollar a
sheet for duplication, I couldn't afford to photocopy all of the documents.
Boxes and boxes.)

The salvage rider expired. Two million acres of pine burned in Montana
in 2000, and not a bit of it was salvaged. It is unlikely there will
ever be fire salvage operations on federal land again.

I think if it hadn't been for the amount of publicity that abuse of the
rider generated, it wouldn't be that way. Basically, the BLM and USFS
completely mishandled it and allowed local companies to exploit it in such a
way that it ruined what was probably a good thing.

Clinton was such a spineless piece of crap that, rather than take the
head
for refusing to sign the OKC relief act and having the balls to tell the
public exactly why, he signed it including the timber salvage rider that
industry shills managed to attach to the end of the bill.

So, what does Clinton have to do with thinning forests?

He signed the salvage rider rather than insist upon more specific and
rational wording. Had he had an actual spine, he might have gotten a
better salvage policy into place which might still be workable today.
The salvage rider completely denied public right to appeal even though it
was public land.

Face it, organizations like the Sierra Club have become fund raising
machines that don't give a shit about the environment. All they care
about is the money coming in.

Not necessarily arguing with you there. But, just because McDonald's is
the largest hamburger seller doesn't mean they have real hamburgers.
Sierra Club is to environmentalism what McDonald's is to hamburgers.

"We" import 40% of the world's wood fiber production for our own use.
"We" are clear cutting the Phillipines, Brazil, Indonesia and S.E. Asia
so we can wipe our ass with Charmin.

Toilet paper is a recent (and western) luxury. I love it when people ask
"Wull...if you ban logging how you gonna wipe your ass, dumbass?" People
use to use corn husks and even corn cobs. Other parts of the world use
water, and over a billion people use their left hand. And, recycled toilet
paper is cheap. But, your point is probably valid.

-c