Fishermen, Loggers Divided By Act Both Sides Organize Events In Conjunction With Hearing

A Senate field hearing on the Endangered Species Act is turning into a face-off between salmon fishermen and timber workers.

Both groups have organized side events in conjunction with the hearing today before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works’ Subcommittee on Drinking Water, Fisheries and Wildlife.

Timber workers complain that they have lost thousands of jobs to protect he northern spotted owl, a threatened species, and salmon fishermen say the only way they can regain thousands of lost jobs is by restoring salmon runs through the Endangered Species Act.

J.L. Perrizo, executive secretary of the Western Council of Industrial Workers in Portland, said timber harvest reductions to save habitat for the northern spotted owl have cost 13,137 jobs in Oregon in the past six years.

“To add insult to injury, (committee chairman) Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.) has decided to severely curtail timber worker representation at the only hearing in Oregon,” Perrizo said.

Many of those people who lost jobs live in Roseburg, and should have a chance to tell their stories to the senators, said Tootie Smith, statewide coordinator of the Oregon Lands Coalition.

Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations said the Endangered Species Act had the potential to restore 72,000 jobs lost in the salmon industry by rebuilding fish runs that have collapsed. Four West Coast runs of salmon have been protected under the act.

“We are more regulated than the timber industry under the ESA,” Spain said. “But we simply adapted and have stayed within our biological means. Those are the stresses the timber industry is having to deal with now.”