DOI Sec. Ken Salazar will be in Medford, Oregon on Tuesday, 2-21-2012
 Feb 19, 2012  Federal gov & land grabs, Forestry & USFS Salazar will discuss restoration project
February 17, 2012
 
By Paul Fattig
Mail Tribune

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will hold a town hall-style session Tuesday in Medford to discuss a local forest restoration pilot project and other issues.
Joining him will be Dan Ashe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director, Butch Blazer, U.S. Department of Agriculture deputy undersecretary for natural resources, and Neil Kornze, the Bureau of Land Management’s acting deputy director for policy and programs.
Salazar’s last visit to southwest Oregon, in October 2010, was to encourage interests to work together to protect both the ecosystem and jobs on BLM-managed forests in Western Oregon, officials said.

During that visit, he met with representatives of local counties, the Coquille Indian Tribe, the timber industry and environmental groups.
On Tuesday, Salazar is expected to visit the Pilot Joe timber sale in the Applegate Valley early in the morning, then hold the town-hall session beginning at 11 a.m. at the BLM district office at 3040 Biddle Road in Medford, said district spokesman Jim Whittington.

Salazar will make an announcement pertaining to the pilot project during his visit, Whittington said.

Invitations to the town hall have been sent out to more than 200 people who have been actively involved in the effort to find a collaborative solution to the debate over managing public forestlands, Whittington said. The session will also be open to the public, he added.

“They have sent out invitations to just about everyone who spent a lot of time in the collaborative process to get the pilot projects going,” Whittington said, referring to county commissioners, timber industry representatives, environmental groups and others.

(Note: NOBODY from local mining associations or from Jefferson Mining District was invited to hear Salazar speak)

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