Get Your Yard Signs Now - Delivered Right To You!

Show your support for Oregon's endangered old growth forests! Just send us an email, and we will happily deliver to you a lovely yard sign that reads "Hey Forest Service, No Old Growth Logging Save Trapper" for a suggested donation of $5-$10 each. Let us know how many you would like and your address and we will bring them to you by bike.

All proceeds from sign sales go directly to this all-volunteer campaign to save the Trapper timber sale and protect endangered species habitat and Eugene and Springfield's clean water for generations to come.

You can also pick up a sign for yourself at the Bad Egg Info. Shop, located at 112 E. 13th Ave in Eugene, OR (541) 636-3570.

UPDATE! Logging Postponed Until August 2011

The Save Trapper campaign just got word that because of the lawsuit filed against the Forest Service in September, Seneca Jones timber company can not log Trapper until August 1st 2011! Now is the best time to show the Forest Service that we will not stand by and watch as the last of Oregon's old growth on public land is destroyed. Show your support for this endangered space by Sending a letter to the Forest Service and picking up a yard sign at the Bad Egg Info Shop, located at 112 E. 13th Ave in Eugene. Click Get Involved to learn more ways to help out.

Forest Action Weekend! (ALL EVENTS FREE)

Learn some tools for saving the forest-make activist friends and get involved!

Thursday -11/11 
Local Forest Defense: Presentations on the Elliott Freestate! and Save Trapper!
         - 6:30 PM. 216 Allen, UO 


Friday 11/12
Knot tying with Trip Jennings!
        - 2 PM. Survival Center, Suite 1 EMU, UO

Tree Climbing Training (gear provided)
        - 4 PM. Lorax Manner, 1648 Alder St.



Saturday 11/13
Banner Making Party
        - 6 PM. Lorax Manner, 1648 Alder St.

Sunday 11/14
Non-Violent Direct Action 
        - 12-4 PM. Lorax Manner, 1648 Alder St. FREE lunch provided.

"Motivating People to Action" w/ Nathan Jones
        - 6-9 PM. LLC Performance Hall, UO

Thursday 11/18
Know Your Rights
         - 7 PM. Lorax Manner, 1648 Alder St.

Cascadia Wildlands, & Oregon Wild sue US Forest Service

Working to halt an outdated timber sale originally proposed
over ten years ago, two conservation organizations filed a lawsuit today
in federal district court. The legal challenge by Cascadia Wildlands and
Oregon Wild takes aim at the Willamette National Forest's Trapper timber
sale above the McKenzie River.

The U.S. Forest Service first proposed the timber sale in 1998 and has
failed to address significant new information that has arisen since the
agency issued a decision on the project in 2003.

"The McKenzie is Eugene's backyard recreation paradise," says Kate
Ritley, Executive Director of Cascadia Wildlands. "The McKenzie's
forests filter our drinking water and shelter all kinds of wildlife. We
need to protect these precious forests for future generations, not
destroy them for short-term profits."

In the ten years since the project was planned a pair of threatened
northern spotted owls has taken up residence in the vicinity of the
timber sale. According to new research data, the species continues a
downward population trend both range-wide and in a large study area that
encompasses the logging project. Additionally, the Forest Service
logging plan fails to protect dozens of red tree vole nests located in
the project area. The red tree vole is a small mammal that lives in
older conifer forests and is required protection when its nests are
located. The vole is also a major food source for the northern spotted
owl. Because of these factors and other threats to the species, the
conservation organizations believe protections from harmful timber sales
are more warranted than ever.

The Trapper timber sale has been the subject of controversy before. On
two past occasions, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild successfully
challenged the species impacts opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS). USFWS is the federal agency in charge of
recovering endangered species and had illegally issued opinions that
would have allowed the Trapper timber sale to proceed despite negative
effects to threatened wildlife.

"It is past time the Forest Service retire this reckless project for
good," says Doug Heiken, Conservation and Restoration Coordinator with
Oregon Wild. "The agency has a choice between logging mature and
old-growth forests on public lands above our treasured McKenzie River or
identifying common-sense projects that benefit wildlife, protect the
forest, and create jobs. It should be an easy choice."

The groups believe the Forest Service should be spending limited
taxpayer dollars on projects that restore degraded landscapes, like
restoration thinning in tree plantations formed by past clearcutting,
decommissioning harmful roads, and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat.
The groups have offered to work with the Forest Service and the
purchaser of the Trapper timber sale, Seneca Sawmill, to find
replacement timber volume from less controversial areas. The purchaser
has not expressed interest in this option. The Willamette National
Forest has provided replacement volume to timber companies in the past
when timber sales were mired in public controversy.
The organizations are being represented by attorneys at Western
Environmental Law Center and Cascadia Wildlands.

Forest Defense Benefit Party

There will be a party on Friday October 22nd at the 1648 Alder St (Lorax Manner). Costumes are encouraged, it is Star Wars themed. Entry is $5 or $3 if you call forest service with a provided phone at the door. Discounts will also be given for exceptionally awesome costumes.

MEETING THIS THURSDAY

Thanks to all who helped with Saturday's rally. We are meeting again on this Thursday, September 9th, to discuss phase two. Please come with all of your best friends and ideas to the park at 17th and Charnelton at 6 pm.

Urban tree sit at Saturday market

Early Saturday morning a group of activists with Cascadia Rising Tide set up a platform 40 feet off the ground in a tree on the corner of Oak St and Park St. In that same tree, a banner was hung that read "Forest Service: Give Back Trapper. Protect Our Water." The platform was occupied by Grace Warner to inform Eugene of the horrendous logging practices advocated by the Forest Service, as well as threats to the drinking water supply that the Trapper timber sale poses. 

Law enforcement kept a comfortable distance, not showing their presence at the demonstration. The group gained support from Saturday Market staff and vendors alike. Check out media coverage on the channel 9 evening news here (starting at 5:50 into the video).  Warner stayed in the tree until the end of market and left on her own accord.

Rally To Save Trapper on Saturday! Meet at Kesey Square at noon!

On Saturday, Sept. 4 at noon in Kesey Square, there will be a march/ rally to our Representative Peter Defazio's office, on the other side of Saturday Market. It's time time to let our representatives know that they can not sell our native forests to the highest bidder at the loss of our regional watershed, the McKenzie River. Logging could start any day; look for updates here.

If you want to help, contact Ben at rainbowcakes@riseup.net

Meeting in Eugene

If anyone wants to get involved in defending our native forest and drinking supply you are welcome to come to a meeting on Sunday, August 29th at 6pm at Charnel Mulligan City Park (17th and Charnelton in Eugene). Email savetrapper10@gmail.com with any questions.

Trapper to be cut

A 149 acre timber sale in the Willamette National Forest that is situated on water that feeds into the McKenzie watershed called "Trapper" is slated to be logged in September. Most of the forest was burned 150 years ago resulting in the stand we see today consisting of re-growth with surviving old growth. In the summer of 2005 the Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (NEST) surveyed the sale for red tree vole nests.

Red Tree Voles are small rodents that live in the canopies of old growth Douglas Fir trees that serve as 70% of the Spotted Owl's diet. Finding an active vole nest ensures a 10 acre buffer zone around the tree that can not be cut down. NEST documented nests and turned them in just past the closing of the public comment. Because the period was over, all of the collected data was ignored by the Forest Service, enabling logging to move forward.

In addition to being habitat to the threatened spotted owl and near threatened red tree vole, Trapper is along creeks that feed into the source of Eugene's drinking water. Logging produces both organic and inorganic pollution. Chemical pollutants, including but not limited to gasoline, wash off of equipment straight into water sources. Silt from the disrupted ground pollutes and overwhelms the water, turning it from clean drinking water to a murky mess.

Get Involved

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SAVE THIS PRECIOUS SPACE. HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO:

SEND A LETTER TO THE FOREST SERVICE
Click here to send a letter to Meg Mitchell, the Forest Supervisor of the Willamette National Forest.

PUT UP A YARD SIGN
For a suggested donation of $5-$10 you can show your support for protecting Oregon's ancient forests. Pick up a yard sign at the Bad Egg Info Shop, located at 112 E. 13th Ave in Eugene, OR (541) 636-3570. Or Email us and we will deliver one to you by bicycle. Why not get one for your friends too?

JOIN THE EMAIL LIST
Send us an email and write "add me to the update list" to receive updates once every one or two weeks on the state of Trapper, the Save Trapper campaign, upcoming events, and other ways to get involved.

VOLUNTEER!
The Save Trapper campaign tables regularly at Sundance Natural Foods, The Red Barn, and other locations around Eugene. We are always looking for more people to help gather signatures, hand out signs, and spread the word. Email us and let us know if you are interested in tabling; we will provide training and materials.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
If you believe strongly that we should not be logging old growth forests on public lands, writing a letter to the editor is a great way to spread awareness and gather support. Click here to write to the Registered Guard and here for the Oregonian.