Oregon SAF Joins Field Tour for Lawmakers

Oregon state lawmakers joined the Oregon SAF and SAF national leadership on a forest tour where lawmakers found out why it’s a logging practice — and not forestry itself — that gets called “clear-cut.”

Clear-cutting, pesticide sprays, and the role of public land management were among many forestry topics discussed at length during a guided tour of more than 40 people through the forests around Camas Valley.

State officials, local leaders, and forest industry representatives tagged along on the tour, which was billed as a fact-finding mission put together by the Oregon Forest Resource Institute. The Oregon SAF was a co-sponsor of the Tour, which was meant to shed light on those hot-button issues for people who don’t often get to see logs felled.

The aim of the tour was to provide a front row seat to issues and practices that are usually mired in debate. OSAF was well represented by Eric Geyer, Abe Wheeler and Jake Gibbs. OSAF positions were reviewed by Mark Buckbee, Steve Fitzgerald. Bob Alverts, Ed Shepard and Steve Pilkerton. The tour included stops at land managed by Roseburg Forest Products, Lone Rock Resources and the local offices of the Bureau of Land Management. While some talked about the merits of thinning versus clear-cutting, other speakers talked about how or why they apply pesticides.

However, safety in all shapes and forms never strayed from the discussion.  See details here in The News Review.