Mary Brogdon, that is a beautiful defense of a friend.  I believe you that Otte  is "the type with deeply held and well thought out values, the courage to take a stand for them, and the grit to persevere."  I  admire his idealism, and I too hate to see old forests cut.
However, I recognize we live in a pluralistic democracy-- no single interest group gets everything it wants.  Compromises are necessary. The timber industry complains that it has suffered greatly from government controls.  And the cut is way down from what it was decades past. 
Whether this is actually a "thinning operation" is questionable.    But the fact is, Oregon needs a healthy economy, and tree growing is one of the things we do best.    
If a planned timber operation really  has significant problems the CFD is well within its rights to oppose it legally.  However, these days direct action, such as blocking roads, is likely to be counterproductive with a public mostly fed up with such unlawful tactics.