The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning a new logging project just a few miles east of the community of Alsea, Oregon. The Aloha Trout project would log and build new roads through 1,800 acres of public forest in the middle of Oregon’s Coast Range. While some of the project area is relatively young, previously clearcut forest, the area also holds several pockets of lush older forest and legacy trees that reach 130 years old or more. Honey Grove and Seeley Creeks meander through the project area, serving as habitat for imperiled coastal coho and Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey.
Dear Bureau of Land Management,
Please consider this comment on the proposed Aloha Trout Forest Management Project near Alsea, Oregon. This project would log and build roads through 1,800 acres of public forests in Oregon’s Coast Range, putting habitat for imperiled species including marbled murrelets, northern spotted owls, coastal coho and Chinook salmon, cutthroat trout, and Pacific lamprey at risk. I am particularly concerned that logging and road building will increase fire risk in the area, which is frequented by community members for educational purposes, mushrooming, hiking, and birding. I am also worried that heavy thinning alongside creeks in the project area, including Honey Grove and Seeley Creeks, will reduce shade and increase stream temperatures when fish need cool, clean water to survive.
Please consider the climate and carbon impacts of the project. The project area includes areas of older forest and legacy trees reaching 130 years old, which serve as important habitat and carbon sinks. Coast Range forests are some of the most carbon-dense in the world, with the potential to sequester more carbon on an ongoing basis than almost any other ecosystem on Earth. Even if “legacy” trees are not logged, isolated individual old-growth trees no longer have protected microclimates that provide habitat for older forest dependent species. These “legacy” trees frequently blow down in the first storm following the removal of all surrounding trees that buffered the effects of weather for hundreds of years.
Please evaluate the full range of environmental impacts associated with logging and road building and do not treat these forests as a sacrifice zone. Develop an alternative that protects clean drinking water, recreational opportunities, connected fish and wildlife habitat, fire resilience, and carbon sequestration. Incorporate community feedback into project planning efforts and protect forest values beyond timber production.
Thank you.
