A former congressman joined environmental activists in getting arrested Monday to protest logging old-growth timber in the Northwest’s national forests.

About 300 people demonstrated on the Siskiyou National Forest, where trucks have been hauling out thousands of logs cut from the Sugarloaf timber sale.

Wearing suits and ties, former U.S. Rep. Jim Jontz, D-Ind., National Audubon Society vice president Brock Evans, Charlie Ogle of the Sierra Club and Earth First co-founder Mike Roselle joined hands and led about 75 protesters past a gate to be arrested on trespassing charges.

The arrests went on for several hours, and the total number wasn’t immediately available.

“There is nothing we can do now to stop Sugarloaf,” said Jontz, who now heads the Endangered Species Coalition in Washington. “We can insist Congress stop the assault on our environmental laws.”

Jontz was referring to the “salvage rider,” a measure Congress attached to a budget-cutting bill last summer that suspends environmental laws through 1996 to expedite logging on national forests.

Roselle said the protest was significant because of the support from national environmental groups.