By Joe Keating

Senator Ron Wyden has a vision for our federal forests. His vision is not the preservation of our last remaining wilderness but rather the saving of small areas of old growth trees while industrial logging continues and dominates. His vision for our wilderness is that of a large theme park. He does not have a conservation ethic. He is the consummate politician.

Since becoming Senator, his policies have time after time moved in this direction. He has successfully adopted the strategy of Mark Hatfield. Hatfield, who was responsible for over 10 million acres of Old Growth stumps and referred to, as “The Butcher of the Forests,” would occasionally throw a bone to the enviros with initiatives such as the protection of Opal Creek.

Wyden does the exact same thing but in Wyden’s case the bones are much smaller. Wyden’s plan is simple and effective. It is, plainly put, ‘two steps forward and one step back.’ Two steps forward (from his perspective) to increase logging and one step back to preserve wilderness.

The latest example of this strategy is Wyden’s writing and passage of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA), which allows cutting of millions of acres of our forests (two steps forward) followed by his Mount Hood Wilderness Bill (one step backward). The HFRA is responsible for the largest timber sale in U.S. history: the Biscuit Sale. If it succeeds it will effectively destroy the remaining wilderness of the Siskiyou Forest. Wherever there is a forest fire there now exists a legal basis to cut it down. To avoid effective condemnation by the environmental community and increase his environmental currency he countered in an election year with the Mount Hood Wilderness Bill. This bill would protect wilderness areas around Mount Hood but the bill also encourages eastside logging and establishes a reserve for mountain biking. The bill will likely be watered down after the election to the betterment of the logging industry to be more consistent with Wyden’s vision.

Last year Wyden’s pet placebo for the enviros was his initiative to introduce a bill to protect our old growth forests. I was part of a group called the Northwest Old Growth Coalition, which was comprised of most of the forest protection groups in the Northwest. After 18 months of toying with the Coalition. Wyden introduced a bill that would have indeed provided some protection for old growth forests in the Cascades. It also would have opened all of our eastside forest to massive cutting. Enviros had been blindsided once again but doing the endless ‘negotiation’ with Wyden and his staff enviros had lost all of its will to do anything that would actually hold Wyden’s feet to the fire.

In addition to his most recent opus with the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, Ron Wyden receives more logging industry political contributions than 95 percent of all the members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike. Ron Wyden ignores 70 percent of Oregonians who want more protection for our old growth forest not less. He ignores scientists who have consistently stated that removing the larger, more fire- resistant trees only worsens the threat of forest fires. He ignores the Government Accounting Office (GAO) report of Oct. 24, 2003, which confirmed that legal appeals and litigation do not delay forest fuel reduction projects.

But wait a minute! Doesn’t Wyden consistently receive the endorsements and PAC contributions from the Sierra Club, Oregon Natural Resource Counsel (ONRC), and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). Yes he does and that is a huge part of the problem.

As Michael Donnelly, a former Executive Director of ONRC and environmental journalist, recently wrote, “Even though Wyden has been named one of the dumbest members of Congress, he is something of an idiot savant when it comes to having his cake and eating it too. Wyden will go on to more timber PAC and other corporate money, yet he will enjoy high LCV ratings and Sierra Club endorsements. Gordon Smith should cry foul. They have nearly identical records on National Forest policy (log more), yet Wyden pockets money from both Big Timber and Big Green.”

The forest protection environmental groups have never been able to solve Wyden’s strategy and have been effectively neutralized when dealing with him. They can’t and don’t apply the full weight and political leverage of our community. He has successfully kept his environmental political currency while proceeding with his pro cut, theme park agenda. It is an outrage!

It is not likely that the environmental community will have the wisdom or spine to do anything about this soon. Once again people will have to lead the way so that the ‘leaders’ will follow.

It is time for people to hold Ron Wyden accountable. On Aug. 2, Back 2 the WALL (B2TW) announced Wyden Accountability Week. There was a full week of up close and personal activities to holding Wyden accountable for his vision of our forests and to hopefully help the enviro groups’ spine.

Utilizing a caricature cartoon created by B2TW’s volunteers, the week’s activities started off with Wyden Email Day and Wyden Fax Day. Wyden Irate Call-In Day followed on Wednesday. Wyden Waka Day was held Thursday evening near Wyden’s home in SW Portland. The Wyden Waka was adapted from the Maori ‘Haka’ a traditional ritual to disempower an opponent and to purify themselves before going into a competition or battle. It was very powerful. Friday’s activity was Wyden Biscuit Throw Day At Noon folks gathered at Wyden‚s Portland office. A life size caricature of Wyden was created with a hole next to his head. Folks threw ‘burnt biscuits’ through the hole. If they were successful they were awarded a ‘Wyden Weenie’ being cooked up on the sidewalk.

During the outreach leading up to Wyden Accountability Week I received hugs of encouragement from many but interestingly enough, some leaders within the environmental leadership were critical. The criticism was centered on the ‘disrespectful’ nature of the activities. My answer to them was, “Our forests deserve our respect. Respect is earned. Respect doesn’t come with a title. Until Ron Wyden acts in a way that deserves the respect of our community he needs to be held accountable. Wyden’s mantra of ‘Standing up for all Oregonians’ is empty and false. He stands for the few and against the 70 percent of us who demand protection of our wilderness forests.”

Joe Keating is a long-time forest activist whose columns are regularly featured in The Portland Alliance.