=====  A message from the 'appealist' discussion list  =====

Good news for gophers!   As a result of comments by The Lands Council, a
great effort by Karen Coulter of Blue Mt. Biodiversity Project, and others
who sent in comments, the The Umatilla NF (Heppner Ranger District) has
decided to halt a gopher strychnine baiting project.  The District Ranger
stated:

       "Recently completed scoping for the proposed "1999 Gopher Baiting EA"
has led me to the decision to remove this porposal from the Umatilla
National Forest SOPA.  considering the presence of (ESA) listed steelhead
and proposed listed lynx, and the fact that this porposal had virtually no
public support (and mixed opinions internally as well), I have asked our
Interdisciplinary Team to pursue other options."

and  "The owners of our public lands should feel comfortable with the
management practices used for their stewardship.  This was not the case as
evidenced by what we heard."


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fyi,  here was a copy of The Lands Council letter:


March 14, 1999

Delanne Ferguson, District Ranger
Heppner Ranger District
PO BOX 7,  Heppner,  OR 97836

ATTN:    Gophers

Dear Heppner District Ranger,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed gopher baiting
project.  Scoping comments and input is usually accepted until the final EA
is released.  The Lands Council is very concerned about the direction and
scope of this program.

While we see a list of Preliminary Issues listed, we are unsure that you
will fully analyzed the ecological, social and economic effects of issues
such as secondary targets, risk of soil contamination and degradation of
water quality.   We encourage you to withdraw the proposal at this time for
the following reasons, and have provide comments that may allow you to
expand your range of issues for this project.  In addition we ask that the
following concerns and questions be answered:

1. Your own past management, and continued management of cattle, logging and
road use is contributing to the loss of biological diversity across your
district.  Until these practices change how are you able to proceed with
further poisoning of a native species?
2. What are the long term, 60 year or more impacts of poisoning pocket
gophers and animals/birds that eat pocket gophers?   RPA and other planning
documents require this long term look at consequences, in addition to the
simplistic 5 year restocking requirement.
3. How has site classification changed on these proposed regeneration units,
please provide a past, present and foreseeable site classification for all
proposed project units.
4. What is the current and historic population of the following species in
the project areas:
a. Pocket Gophers
b. Accipitors
c. Cattle
d. Ferets and other gopher predators
e. Bull trout and salmon
f. Western larch
5. We remain opposed to commercial logging on your District and believe
logging and grazing are the problems you should focus on, not killing a
native species.

We would like a response to our questions as soon as possible.  Please send
requested information to:  Mike Petersen,  88 Storm King Lane ( formerly at
8506 West Fork Trout Creek Rd.), Republic, WA 99166  Thank you.

Sincerely,


Mike Petersen,   Forest Watch Coordinator