I am writing to publicly encourage the SDS Lumber company to cancel their plans to log the lower portion of Spring Creek, a White Salmon River tributary near Husum. The proposed logging area is entirely inside the area that 30 years ago was set-aside as part of the White Salmon Wild and Scenic River Corridor and was supposed to have been purchased from SDS because of its importance. Indeed, as far as I can determine, it is the only forested stretch of the entire White Salmon River that the public has been able to access. For years, SDS has generously allowed public foot traffic in this beautiful piece of woods. Salmon spawn in Spring Creek. Indeed in March, The Enterprise newspaper announced a large grant to study the possibility of removing an earthen dam (located just above the fork in the road between upper and lower Spring Creek Roads) and opening more of Spring Creek to salmon spawning and salmon recovery. A few years ago, when SDS logged the small area just north of Lower Spring Creek Road, they logged to just short of the dam, leaving only half a dozen spindly oak trees to shade the creek, removing every single conifer on their land. A repeat along the rest of Spring Creek will most likely end any salmon recovery dreams. The woods are also the only known home of a rare and probably delicious mushroom.

Michael Beug, PhD