Loggers' clear-cutting causes floods, droughts for ranchers downstream; Vancouver, BC

Struggling rancher at loggerheads over clear-cutting:
Randy Saugstad is waiting for the flood. Then he'll be waiting for the drought. The Williams Lake-area cattle rancher says the Liberals' controversial makeover of the province's logging regulations is going to spell disaster at his off-the-grid beef operation.
So he's been fighting Tolko Industries, the Vernon-based logging company that last month started cutting trees in the watershed above his ranch.
On Dec. 23, Saugstad used his pickup truck to block Tolko's crew from putting in a bridge. On Wednesday, he received a letter from high-powered Vancouver law firm Bull Housser Tupper promising to sue him for damages if he does it again.
'All I can do is wait until they finish logging, and then in the spring when the flooding starts, I can go to court,' says Saugstad, 59.

Shortage of tree cover and stream side forests contribute to Willamette's ill health; Portland, OR

Adding plants would restore Willamette Basin's health, study finds Oregon Environmental News - – OregonLive.com:
The Willamette River basin's miles of arteries and capillaries have just undergone their most thorough check up to date.
Turns out, the patient has some serious health issues:
-Nearly 70 percent of the streams and rivers in the basin are too warm to protect salmon, trout and other sensitive cold-water fish.
-The biological health of more than 80 percent of streams that run through cities and farms is severely compromised, which is bad news for critters from crawdads to insects to clams.
-Almost half the 11,000-plus miles of streams in the basin have a shortage of tree cover and streamside plants, hurting aquatic life by boosting water temperatures, erosion and water pollution.ri