Terry Neuenschwander Logging
455 Tolman Creek Road
Ashland, OR   97520
Date

Edward Shepard, OR/WA State Director
Bureau of Land Management, Western Oregon Plan Revisions
Portland, OR 97208

Dear Ed,

I am a second generation logger.  I am now 58 years old.  I have logged and worked in the timber
industry since 1967.  In 2005 I was forced to stop logging due to the dwindling timber supply.  I
have been in the process of selling off my equipment.  I was a small logger who employed 3 to 5
people.  My crew had to find other jobs.  My son, a third generation logger, worked with me for
14 years.  He went to work for another logger but has had to leave the state with the company he
went to work for in order to have work.  He is tired of working away from home, day after day,
and week after week, and month after month.  My son is strongly considering another line of
work that does not involve the timber industry.  We are losing our work force that know how to
log. Few young people see a future in timber.

Our counties in Oregon are in desperate need of timber dollars.  Our forests are in desperate need
of being managed, thinned, and fuels reduced.  Insects kill our forests and fires are taking their
toll.  Instead of being forest managers, your people are now forest undertakers!  And they are
not doing a very good job of that.

Although Alternative 2 would be progress forward, I recommend that a new "Modified
Alternative 2 Plus" be developed.  That manages greater forest acreage and higher intensity.

For over 30 years I logged "selectively", leaving an uneven aged stand. I logged some old
growth, second and third growth, and some young trees. If you think of a forest as a family, you
have your grandparents, parents and children.  If you take all your (children) young trees, you end
up with an older aged forest.  Your (children) young trees are your future forest.  If you don't
take some of the (grandparents) old growth, they get over ripe, die and eventually tip over.  The
dead trees, standing and fallen, while providing some habitat for forest creatures, they also
provide intense fuel for forest fire.  You can take some (parents) second and third generation
trees.  You need to have some balance.  Not managing our forest only creates extreme fuel loads
for intense forest fire, and creates economic havoc for our communities and is completely
irresponsible.

The objective of this revision is to use the latest science (such as the most recent spotted owl
recovery plan) to effectively manage for timber, wildlife, water, and other resources while
meeting its financial obligations to the counties. Jay Carlson, Roseburg BLM district manager,
has said that the BLM's mandate is to meet the federal legal requirements of the 1937 O&C Act
as well as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act which were written into law in
the 1970s. 

Respectfully,

Terry Neuenschwander