Mark Slezak, timber and core veneer manager at Columbia Forest Products, said his company employs 210 local workers — a good number, though well below the company’s peak of 400 in the mid-2000s.

“This can all be attributed back to the root of the Endangered Species Act and the spotted owls,” Slezak said. “It led federal agencies down the path of very large reductions in timber sales.”

 Whereas Columbia’s business used to rely 80 percent on federal timber, he said it’s now fallen to none. Besides the sparse sales and economic infeasibility of federal timber, Slezak pointed to dense, overgrown stands leading to more catastrophic wildfires.

And even though Slezak has noticed granular changes in federal forest management, he said management agencies just don’t have the people nor the expertise to run timber sales how they once did.

“The ESA definitely needs some revamping to use it the right way,” Slezak said. “In many cases, these species aren’t doing any better or worse because of it.”

Ralph Opp, a retired Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife district biologist of 33 years, said northern spotted owls are needed and they’re not recovering especially fast.

“They are a good indicator of the quality of the habitats around us,” said Opp, who explained these owls need old growth or very mature stands of timber to survive.

“I strongly contend that if they’re in trouble, we’re in trouble — we’re the next in line to feel that impact,” Opp argued.

Source: Herald and News

Posted and edited by Riona, Hanbao News Department

Contact: rionach@cltimber.com