Oregon State Police troopers on Wednesday remove an anti-
logging protester from the Elliott State Forest near Reedsport.
Police arrested the final four logging protesters in the Elliott State Forest today, including one who had rappelled down from a tree during the night and was later caught about four miles from the site.
The arrests brought to 27 the number of protesters taken into custody for blocking access to a timber sale near Reedsport, in Douglas County. Oregon State Police and Douglas County sheriff's deputies arrested 23 people at the scene Wednesday, including some who had chained themselves inside an overturned van or attached themselves to a barrel filled with concrete.
Of the four who remained overnight, one man rappelled down and ran off through the forest, state police said. He was caught this morning walking along Highway 38. The other three, a woman and two men, remained in a perch in the trees. One man came down voluntarily; police removed the other two using a truck with a cherry-picker type boom.
No one was injured during the two-day police action. Those arrested were charged with interfering with an agricultural operation, a Class C felony under state law.
The protesters, aligned with Earth First! and Cascadia Rising Tide, believe the 79-acre logging operation should be stopped. They believe native forests help mitigate the effect of global warming by storing carbon dioxide, in addition to providing habitat for endangered northern spotted owls, marbled murrelet and salmon.
State forestry officials said surveys in 2005 and 2006 found no evidence of marbled murrelets nesting in the 79-acre timber sale site. Spotted owls live in the Elliott State Forest, and about half the 93,000-acre forest is set aside as owl habitat and cannot be logged, according to the forestry department. Money from the $1.4 million timber contract goes to the state's common school fund for distribution to school districts.
Logging on the site began about a month ago and was about 12 percent completed when about 50 activists blocked a road with an overturned van and other obstacles. Some protesters perched on platforms amid trees, warning that they might fall if authorities attempted to remove anchor lines attached to the van. Experts with the Oregon National Guard secured the lines while the van was removed, according to state police.
About 50 state troopers and sheriff's deputies arrived at the site Wednesday morning and began arresting protesters who would not leave. About half of the estimated 50 protesters left voluntarily.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the Oregon Department of Forestry said it was seeking a peaceful resolution to the protest.
"Given the numbers of people at the site, this is a situation that could easily get out of control, with potential harm to people and the environment," the department said.
As dusk settled in, nearly 20 state troopers and sheriff's deputies took jackhammers to a concrete-filled barrel to detach four protesters chained to the barrel. Three protesters remained perched in trees and one seated on a platform slung from two logs standing over the road.
Police and protesters were calm and sometimes jovial as they interacted during the day.
"Our experience is demonstrators that do this type of thing don't want to fight or argue," said Lt. Eric Judah of the state police "They understand that we've got a job to do."
The protest and arrests were a reprise of anti-logging actions that were common in the 1980s and 1990s, as environmentalists, scientists, timber companies and loggers squared off over the issues of endangered species, old growth trees and the jobs, wood products and tax money generated from Oregon's forests.
Most protests were limited to peaceful blockades, but in some cases activists burned logging equipment and spiked trees, posing a hazard to loggers using chain saws.
Earlier this week, Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky of the group Cascadia Rising Tide said the blockade was the culmination of the Round River Rendezvous, an annual gathering of Earth First and other groups, she said.
Several small seasonal streams run through the sale area. A year-round stream also runs through the unit, but it does not have migratory fish runs, according to the forestry department. Buffer zones have been established near yet another stream that empties into the Umpqua River.
An appraisal last year estimated about 3.2 million board feet of lumber could come out of the harvest, which had a bid value of $1.4 million.
Scott Timber Co. of Roseburg holds the contract to harvest the area. The company is owned by Allyn Ford and often supplies Roseburg Forest Products, which is also owned by the Ford family.
The Elliott State Forest, named for an early state forester, is owned by the Division of State Lands. Under the state constitution, money from timber sales there contribute to the common school fund for K-12 education statewide.