China Left Sale Withdrawn

[Arthur Clark <aclark@essential.org>]

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TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT
- NATURAL RESOURCES POLICY ADVISORY
(please distribute
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TAP-RESOURCES
October 15, 1997



FOREST SERVICE WITHDRAWS CHINA LEFT SALE
      ON SISKIYOU NATIONAL FOREST




Introduction

	After becoming one of the most controversial 
timber sales ever issued by the Forest Service, 
the China Left sale on the Siskiyou National Forest 
has been withdrawn by the SNF Supervisor.  This sale 
involved substantial logging of old growth and 
severe degradation of key watersheds used by 
endangered salmon.  
	China Left was bitterly opposed by 
conservation and environmental groups.  After 
administrative and legal challenges to the sale 
proved fruitless, a continuous campaign of direct 
action was waged to slow down the progress of the 
project.  Protesters were arrested throughout 1996 
and 1997.


*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *


Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center
P.O. Box 332 
Williams, OR 97544
(541) 846-9273

October 15, 1997
  
For Immediate Release:


        Conservationists applauded the Siskiyou 
National Forest today for agreeing to buy back 
the five remaining units of the controversial 
China Left timber sale in the headwaters of the 
Sucker Creek watershed in southwest Oregon.  
Siskiyou Supervisor Mike Lunn stated that China 
Left, located in a Key Watershed for anadromous 
fish conservation, was withdrawn due to its 
unacceptable damage to salmon habitat.
        Awarded to Rough and Ready lumber in 
1995, the majority of the sale had already been 
clearcut but these five units were delayed for 
consultation with the National Marine Fisheries 
Service and were the only ones within a Late 
Successional Reserve. China Left was included in 
the infamous 318 rider "from  hell" which 
exempted numerous roadless area and Old Growth 
sales from judicial review, prompting massive 
direct action in 1996 and 1997 to prevent the 
further destruction of prime Old Growth habitat 
in the Klamath Siskiyou bioregion.
        Marty Bergoffen, staff attorney for the 
Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KSWC) said "the 
Siskiyou is moving in the right direction, now 
we'd like to see protection of all quality forest 
habitat in the Klamath Siskiyou. Conservation 
biologists have determined that these roadless and 
wild forests are critical to the survival of 
threatened forest dependent species." Spencer 
Lennard, conservation director of KSWC stated "we 
encourage all land management agencies to follow 
the lead of the Siskiyou by suspending all logging 
of roadless and native forests in the region. It's 
becoming increasingly clear that further logging in 
areas like China Left irreparably damage watersheds 
and should not be tolerated."


                    ###



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