Summary: The development results from mudslides, including one that killed four people in November in Douglas County

The state is considering a moratorium on timber harvests on steep slopes after a series of winter mudslides, including one that killed four people in November in Douglas County.

State Department of Forestry officials said Thursday that they might urge Gov. John Kitzhaber to issue an emergency order banning logging in slide-prone areas.

As an alternative, they are considering asking the state Board of Forestry to adopt new rules calling for a voluntary ban on clear-cutting of steep slopes on private timberland.

The moratorium would remain in effect until the Board of Forestry makes specific recommendations to the 1999 Legislature for permanent changes in the state's Forest Practices Act, department spokesman Lou Torres said.

That law, passed in 1971, regulates logging on the 11 million acres of private and state-managed timberland in Oregon. A mandatory moratorium would mark the first time the state has prohibited logging outright on private timberland, except for narrow strips along main streams.

"This is what we've been asking for since the day after the Hubbard Creek slide," said Francis Eatherington of Umpqua Watersheds, a Roseburg environmental group.

That Nov. 18 slide destroyed a house and killed four people.

Ward Armstrong, director of the Oregon Forest Industries Council, said the timber owners' group hasn't decided whether to support a voluntary or mandatory steep-slope logging moratorium.

"We can't say which is the best option," Armstrong said. "There are pros and cons to each option. The problem clearly needs to be addressed and is being addressed by the department and the board."

Heavy rainstorms in February and November of 1996 triggered thousands of mudslides throughout the Northwest, many originating in clear-cuts or along logging roads. In addition to the Hubbard Creek slide, a motorist was killed on Oregon 38 from a slide originating in a clear-cut.

Survivors of the Hubbard Creek slide have filed an $11.3 million lawsuit against the owner of the timberland and the company that did the logging.