Proposed Logging Along the PCT at Cook and Green Pass!

Proposed logging along the PCT at Cook and Green Pass. The hiker at the right-hand side of the photograph is hiking the PCT, and the Klamath National Forest is proposing to log directly into the trail corridor. Trees marked blue would be logged.

The Klamath National Forest has proposed a large, post-fire logging project in the 2017 Abney Fire footprint. The project would log over 1,200 acres of fire-affected forest in the region surrounding Cook and Green Pass. The project also proposes post-fire logging directly adjacent to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and along the Bee Camp Road (47N80) in the Kangaroo Inventoried Roadless Area. 

Cook and Green Pass is the gateway to the Red Buttes Wilderness Area, the Kangaroo Inventoried Roadless Area and the Condrey Mountain Roadless Area, it is also located within a major connectivity corridor necessary for the dispersal of wildlife and native vegetation in the region — connecting the Marble Mountains and Klamath River area to the Siskiyou Mountains. The area is protected by multiple Botanical Areas and is thought to be one of the most diverse assemblages of native plants in all of California, with over 300 plant species documented. Many rare plant species can be found in the area, including Baker's cypress, Brewer's spruce, mountain lady slipper, splithair paintbrush, Newberry's gentian, Siskiyou fritillaria, Howell's lousewort, white flowered rein orchid and many others. The area contains many important biological values and should be protected for its own sake. It should also be protected for its important recreational values. 

Large, old trees marked for removal along the PCT at Cook and Green Pass.

Recently, the Klamath National Forest began marking timber along Bee Camp Road in a so-called roadside hazard logging unit. The proposal includes logging roughly two miles of Bee Camp Road, including portions of the Kangaroo Inventoried Roadless Area. Some of the logging will occur at Cook and Green Pass in old-growth forests that survived the Abney Fire. Both live trees and dead standing snags are marked for removal.

The logging would impact the Pacific Crest Trail by logging old-growth trees and snags within 30' of the trail and hundreds of feet on either side of Bee Camp Road. Currently, backcountry hikers heading west on the PCT at Cook and Green Pass enter the Kangaroo Inventoried Roadless Area in an isolated stand of old-growth forest before traversing the vast, red rock, serpentine barrens surrounding Red Butte. The experience is memorable and demonstrates the diversity of the Siskiyou Mountains, it will also be significantly degraded by old-growth roadside hazard logging.
 

A live, green tree marked for removal.

The Klamath National Forest's proposal to conduct "roadside hazard logging" on the PCT and in the Kangaroo Inventoried Roadless Area should be canceled. Bee Camp Road should be closed at Cook and Green Pass to protect connectivity, botanical resources, roadless values and recreational opportunities along the PCT. Close Bee Camp Road!

Please contact Forest Supervisor Patricia Grantham and ask her to cancel post-fire logging along Bee Camp Road (47N80) and close the road at Cook and Green Pass. 

Forest Supervisor Patricia Grantham: pagrantham@fs.fed.us

Complex, old-growth forest proposed for logging in the Kangaroo Inventoried Roadless Area and directly adjacent to the PCT at Cook and Green Pass.