Friday, August 19, 2005
Doing it right
for critters backfires
Friday, August 19, 2005
There’s more than
a bit of irony when you look back to how Oregon Coast Range Conifers came
to own a 40-acre tract of timber near Waldport that contains an eagle nest
tree.
The story began with the Endangered Species Act listing of two other
critters, the Northern spotted owl and marbled murlette. Sara Leinman, who
manages timberland for her family, said a 150-acre tract up the Yachats
River contained both owl and murlette habitat. To protect it, the family
proposed trading that habitat to Siuslaw National Forest for timberland
that could be actively managed.
Three parcels came to Oregon Coast Conifers from the trade completed in
1996. Timber harvest plans went forward, “Then somebody saw an eagle up
there,” Leinman said.
By the time it was over, not only did the state insist there be no logging
within 400 feet of the eagle tree, it also insisted half the mature trees
remain standing for the next 100 feet.
Leinman said the added 100-foot buffer zone was too difficult to explain
in the lawsuit decided last week, “so we just left it out” of the claim
for damages that was rejected by the Oregon Supreme Court.
“If we had logged off our Yachats pieces” (instead of trading them) this
never would have happened, Leinman said.
– TAM MOORE |