Medford, OR -- The Bush administration today announced its final plan to implement one of the largest commercial timber sales in modern history in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southern Oregon, one of America's wildest, most pristine places. The Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Biscuit Fire Recovery Project calls for logging 370 million board feet of wood while largely ignoring the immense values of recreation, wildlife habitat and clean water and the need to help protect communities from future fires.

"Instead of focusing resources near Oregon communities that are threatened by wildfire, the Bush Administration is pushing a divisive and harmful policy that drastically increases logging in the backcountry far from people's homes and businesses," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director. "There is a better way. We can responsibly manage Oregon and America's National Forests and protect communities and our nation's wild heritage."

• Log 370 million board feet making this the largest timber sale in modern U.S. history.
• Log 150 million board feet in more than 8,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas.
• Log 170 million board feet out of old growth reserves (this does not count the old growth reserves found in roadless areas)

Planning a massive logging project in the Klamath-Siskiyou region to date has cost the US Treasury at least $5.8 million. According to a recent study by the non-partisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense, logging in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area will cost taxpayers anywhere from $3 million to $100 million depending on how many trees are actually cut.  As an example, a logging plan that cuts 300 million board feet of timber, less than what the Bush administration originally proposed, will cost taxpayers $36 million.

"Despite spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money on planning and implementing a destructive and controversial timber sale that will reap benefits for the timber industry, the Bush administration's plan fails to provide funds and resources for communities threatened by fire," said Pope. "That money would be better spent helping people protect their homes and businesses."

Out of 22,856 public comments received on the Forest Service's Preferred Alternative, 95 percent opposed an extreme amount of commercial logging. However, their final plan released today represents one of the largest timber sales in modern history and will mean more than 90,000 logging trucks leaving this spectacular area. The Forest Service also largely ignored suggestions by conservation groups and concerned citizens that would begin important restoration work, create jobs and help protect communities from future wildfires.

"The Bush Administration's vision for Oregon's National Forests is one where we log across the landscape before, during and after wildfires no matter the costs and impacts," said Pope.

The Klamath-Siskiyou region is home to remarkable biological diversity, making it one of the most unique regions in North America, and richest temperate regions in the world. A high concentration of wild and scenic rivers - including the renown Illinois and Rogue Rivers - and their tributaries contain some of the most valuable salmon and steelhead runs in the contiguous United States, providing a critical refuge for wild fish populations at risk of extinction. The area is part of the larger Klamath-Siskiyou Region and the proposed Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Monument.

There is considerable scientific evidence that "salvage logging" increases erosion, impairs streams and other wildlife habitat, causes additional damage to forests made more fragile by fires, and can actually increase fire risk due to the buildup of hazardous fuel and slash left by logging operations. In fact, trees downed by forest fires provide habitat for wildlife and nutrients needed to help keep forests healthy.