Wednesday,October 16,2013 • The World • A3
South Coast Executive Editor Larry Campbell • 541-269-1222, ext. 251
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Timber industry sues to lift shutdown logging ban BY JEFF BARNARD The Associates Press GRANTS PASS — Western timber companies have gone to court to lift the logging ban on national forests due to the government shutdown, arguing the government has no authority under timber sale contracts to force loggers to stop working. Three wood products companies and a timber industry association filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Medford against the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order lifting the logging shutdown, arguing direction from the Office of Management and Budget does not require suspension of operations on a federal contract so long as direct supervision is inessential to the contractor’s work. It adds that some of the contracts involve work that is improving public safety by reducing wildfire danger and removing dead trees in danger of falling in campgrounds. The companies also say the agencies failed to file notice of the shutdown and give the timber industry a chance to respond. “It makes zero sense for the cash-strapped government to shut down operations that pay millions into the United States Treasury,” said Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resources Council, the timber industry group that filed the lawsuit. “A timber operaThe Associated Press tion isn’t something you can A helicopter ferries logs to a landing on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in September 2006. turn on and off like a light Western timber companies have filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop the suspension of logging on federal switch. Once equipment has to be moved out, it can be timber contracts due to the government shutdown.
Learn the ancient art of felting On Oct. 18, Kathy Elfers will begin a series of classes with the event “Ancient Art of Felting.” The class will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Coastal Ceramics, 159 S. 20th St., Reedsport. Kathy will share some background and history of hand-felting as well as demonstrate several felting techniques. A display of felted items will be on hand. The remaining classes on felting are being offered several times and most would make unique Christmas gifts. Without the minimum number of required students registered in a timely manner, the classes could be cancelled. To register, call Theresa Chickering at 541271-4608 or by email at tjchickering@yahoo.com.
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For the Birds at Coos Art Museum The Coos Art Museum will feature “For the Birds: Bird Art” in the Uno Richter
Atrium Gallery. The Exhibition will open with a free public reception 5-7 p.m. Oct. 18. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, Tuesday through
Friday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Museum admission is $5 general, $2 students, veterans and seniors are free to Museum members.
months before it can be moved back in. “What is happening to our members is particularly frustrating when other businesses with contracts to operate on federal land, such as ski areas, are being allowed to continue working,” Partin added in a statement The Forest Service and BLM had no comment on the lawsuit. The Forest Service started sending out notices to 450 timber buyers last week, saying they had to wrap up operations and put measures like erosion controls in place. The BLM, which sells timber only in Western Oregon, followed suit. Though some companies depend heavily on federal timber sales for their logs, national forests produce only about 5 percent of the nation’s lumber supply. Since logging was deeply cut back on national forests in the
1990s to protect fish, wildlife and clean water, markets have turned to other sources, such as Canada and private lands. The timber companies that joined the lawsuit are Murphy Company of Eugene, which employs 600 people in six mills; High Cascade Inc. of Carson, Wash., which procures timber for a mill in Carson, Wash., and another in Hood River; and South Bay Timber LLC, a Californiabased company that logs in Oregon. Andy Stahl of the conservation group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics said the lawsuit had little chance of success in light of an Oct. 4 ruling in Colorado, where a judge refused to reverse the cancellation of a permit for a mountain bike race on BLM land prompted by the shutdown.
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