Earthrise is Fighting Walton Lake III
As some of you may remember, Earthrise has helped our client the Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project stop two different attempts by the US Forest Service to move forward with the very misguided Walton Lake “Restoration” Project. Walton Lake is a beautiful and popular place in the Ochoco National Forest. The area includes a small lake, a developed campsite immediately adjacent to two sides of the lake, and a surrounding old growth forest that provides a wonderful visual backdrop for visitors and excellent habitat for numerous wildlife species. However because some of the old growth firs in the surrounding area are infected with a naturally occurring disease, the Forest Service has twice attempted to move forward with a proposal to log all of the old growth firs in the area, even though many are completely healthy and could remain so for decades. The supposed “public safety” rationale for this logging, which will resemble a clearcut because the area contains almost all fir trees, is a gross overreaction to a “problem” that has existed for decades and that the Forest Service has previously addressed by removing individual “hazard trees.” Our client fully supports removing individual hazard trees that directly threaten campgrounds and other heavily used areas.
