By Kerul Dyer

Community activists near Grants Pass proclaimed a victory on Tuesday after timber giant Boise Cascade signed an amended contract with the Medford BLM that removed a spur road that threatened old growth trees. The Medford BLM has several projects containing otherwise protected forest areas, including the Poor Windy project and several others. 

“While the forest that was saved by this decision is only a tiny fraction of the old growth slated to be logged by the BLM, this victory is a testament to the power of community members taking action into their own hands,”  said Salal Golden, one of several people who sat in the old Ponderosa Pine tree. “Just a few weeks ago, saving these ancient trees seemed impossible. When we fight, we win.” 

The success story comes at a time when long time forest advocate Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center announced that the BLM canceled the Late Mungers and Penn Butte timber sale auctions “with only hours to spare.” The projects fall under the BLM’s Integrated Vegetation Management Plan, currently under review after KS Wild and partners sued the agency earlier this month. 

Without extensive environmental review, the BLM cannot harvest late seral and old growth trees in Late Successional Reserves. Conservation watchdogs like KS Wild say that the agency uses various workarounds to avoid the regulatory oversight, including the construction of access and spur roads.

The newly formed community action group who organized the tree-sit acknowledged that the fight to protect trees, sensitive species and carbon sequestering forests is far from over. 

“Public agencies like the BLM continue to clear cut these invaluable forests which filter our air and war, protect us from out of control wildfire, and protect us from climate change,” said Rachel Stevens, another community activist supporting the tree-sit. “While this fight might be over, we know there are so many more to win. Our community will not stand by as the last remaining old growth is destroyed.”