Alison Bowden, endorsed by Friends of the Watershed, elected to Corvallis City Council...at last, a voice for the forest!
Anderson accuses Public Works of "political theater" to extend logging in Corvallis Forest
"The outcome of the Corvallis Forest Stewardship Plan” was decided behind closed doors before this public process even started," Malcolm Anderson charged during his impassioned testimony at the September 25 public meeting of the Corvallis Forest Stewardship Plan Update Task Force.
Anderson, a certified arborist from Philomath, called the work of the city-manager appointed task force "political theatre" designed to justify Public Works continued industrial logging of the Corvallis Forest, the source of the city's highest quality drinking water.
The task force has been meeting publicly since November 2022, with Public Works staff writing both the updates and the meeting minutes. Anderson stated, "No amount of public testimony or peer reviewed scientific evidence against this continued resource extraction has seemed to make any impact on the process."
"Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any concrete changes at all to the updated stewardship plan that would restrict their industrial forestry approach. No restrictions on harvest age or size of trees, no restrictions on road building, no mandate to maintain certain levels of water quality against run off created by continued logging, no rules about preventing the introduction and spread of invasive species that logging has brought to the watershed.," he said.
Anderson then addressed task force members directly, stating, "I would encourage you to reexamine your own role in this process and whether you can better serve the health of the forest by engaging with Public Works to make a better plan with more concrete protections for the older stands in the Corvallis Forest than has been possible so far."
You can read Malcolm Anderson's September 25 testimony in full here.
Next Corvallis Forest Task Force meeting:
Wednesday, December 4, 5 p.m.
Madison Avenue Meeting Room
Register to attend on-line & find meeting agenda here
This past April, Friends of the Corvallis Watershed advocates Doug Pollock & Jim Fairchild photographed the poorly maintained roads managed by the Siuslaw National Forest in the city's water catchment area, after the Forest Service claimed they maintained logging roads to a "gold standard." See more photos of roads and excessive logging in the city's watershed on our NEW PAGE: "SIUSLAW LOGGING IMPACTS"
Streams flowing from the Corvallis Forest and the Siuslaw National Forest are increasing in turbidity...enough to qualify as impaired under the Clean Water Act. But the city is in denial . . .
We're Front-Page News!!!!!!
"Corvallis Updating Forest Plan: Some groups call the city's process flawed," by Kosiso Ugwuede, Corvallis Gazette-Times 05/30/24
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Then write a letter to the editor!
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​​Turbidity increasing in Rock Creek's drinking water supply
Data scientist's turbidity analysis shows disturbing water quality trend, while water use plummets in 2 creeks
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Andy Kerr's blog about logging & drinking water:
One of Oregon's best known conservationists cites Friends of the Watershed in his recent public lands blog.
Watershed science articles now on-line:
Our clickable science bibliography with peer-reviewed science & government documents:
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Public Works appoints new task force member:
Without publicly announcing the vacancy left by the former chair's resignation, Public Works appointed a new task force member who works for the forest products industry and has never attended a task force meeting. One current task force member has written a letter objecting to the process.
Six enviro groups object to city's appointment process:
Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Audubon Society, Great Old Broads, Friends of OSU Old-growth, Benton Forest Coalition & Friends of the Corvallis Watershed signed a letter to Mayor Maughan, objecting to City Council allowing Public Works to take over the appointment process to this policy-making CFSPU Task Force. Jim Fairchild has also written a letter to city council. No response was received.