Equipment Broken By Ceramic Spikes In Trees In Oregon

PHILOMATH, Ore. - Trees logged from a site that environmentalists are trying to protect on Marys Peak carried ceramic spikes that damaged mill equipment, a lumber executive says.

No one was injured but some spikes broke the blades used to peel logs to produce veneer, the thin sheets that make up plywood, said Rob Freres, vice president of the Freres Lumber Co. in Lyons.

Anonymous warnings were received more than a year ago about spiked trees on Marys Peak, but investigators have no solid leads, said Rick Alexander, a spokesman for Siuslaw National Forest.

Environmentalists have pushed for a park to preserve the 4,097-foot peak, which is about 15 miles southwest of Corvallis, Ore.

They opposed the U.S. Forest Service's Chintimini Park timber sale, which Freres bought for $4.57 million in 1990.

But park advocates have said they do not approve any illegal measures such as tree-spiking.

Freres said mill workers have found about two dozen spikes in Marys Peak logs in the past few weeks.

The spikes, which appear homemade, measure about an inch in diameter and 4 to 8 inches long, Freres said.

Ceramic spikes evade detection methods designed to keep metal objects out of saws, chippers and other mill equipment. The spikes can break chainsaws or the saws in mills, raising the threat of injury to workers.

Freres said whoever planted the Marys Peak spikes took pains to cover the holes with dirt, bark or moss.

He estimated that the spiking has cost more than $20,000 in equipment damage, down time and extra labor to inspect the logs.

Forest Service officials say tree spiking is rare despite strong opposition to logging in some areas.

"I don't recall recently that there's been anything," said Ray Steiger, a spokesman with the agency's Northwest regional office in Portland.

Scattered tree spikings have been reported since the early 1980s, including several incidents on Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management land in southern Oregon.