Riot Police Needed At Timber Auction Fire, Threat Spur Agency To Bar Public, Except For 2 Reporters

As police in riot gear and protesters eyed each other uneasily outside, federal officials gathered under unprecedented security Friday to auction five controversial parcels of timber in the Willamette National Forest.

The auction followed a fire that destroyed one ranger station this week and anti-logging graffiti and a possible bomb found at another.

About 40 protesters gathered outside Eugene’s federal building, where the auction took place, but they were outnumbered by nearly 70 city and state police.

Inside, the auction was conducted in private once bids were opened within public view behind glass in the building lobby. The U.S. Forest Service had taken the unprecedented step of barring the public from the auction, except for two news reporters chosen from a pool.

For security, the auction was moved to Eugene from the Detroit Ranger District. Law enforcers decided to allow only two reporters in after an environmental activist claiming to be a reporter asked to observe the auction, said Patti Rodgers, spokeswoman for the forest.

The protest was peaceful except for one incident in which a timber executive had to shield another timber executive who was rushed by several demonstrators.

Environmentalists held signs that said “Sierra Club” and “Bidders beware: We will stand for our forests.”

The Santiam Watershed Guardians, which organized the protest, argue that cutting the timber will harm Salem’s watershed.

But a forest spokesman said the Forest Service withdrew any sales that would have hurt the watershed, and only went ahead with sales that were determined not to pose a risk.

By midday, four of the five sales were awarded to two timber companies. No one bid on the 117,000-board-foot Runt Sale.

The 5.66-million-board-foot Sunnyview Sale and 4.78-million-board-foot Cloudy Sale went to Frank Lumber Co. The 715,000-board-foot Lemans salvage sale and 1.86-million-board-foot Lynx Sale went to Freres Lumber Co.

Meanwhile, a multiagency federal team began its investigation into the Wednesday fire at the Oakridge Ranger District and the milk carton with wires sticking out that was found atop a Detroit ranger station.

Staff from the Oakridge and Detroit districts were sent home for a three-day weekend “to start the healing process,” Rodgers said.