I was a USFS Timber Sale planner
I worked as a Timber Sale Planner for the USFS on the Umpqua NF for 20 years starting in 1980. The Umpqua NF is in western Oregon where timber sale production was the highest in the country. Timber harvesting started in the 1950s.
As a timber sale planner I witnessed the steady harvesting of the old growth forest and saw that the reason that most areas were not roaded and had timber sales is because the timber in these areas was of lower quality and quantity and the cost of road building was much higher and made the sales uneconomical.
The agency should take Alternative 1, the No Action alternative, and leave current roadless protections in place.
I think it is a waste of taxpayers money to propose that these areas are now economically feasibility for road building and logging
Sincerely,
Steve Gadd
Sisters, OR