Lost in the Clarke firestorm, the Bush administration changed the rules governing the logging of old-growth forests in the Northwest. These measures are another critical blow to a priceless and irreplaceable ecosystem. The forgotten issue this election may hold the most evidence of how misguided and short-sighted this administration really is.
Never is an opportunity missed to weaken important legislation designed to protect sacred lands and vulnerable species:
Associated Press
SEATTLE - The Bush administration on Tuesday eased restrictions on logging old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest, finalizing a previously announced rules change that says forest managers no longer have to look for rare plants and animals before logging.
Instead, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management will rely on information provided by Washington, Oregon and California in determining whether to allow logging, proscribed burns, and trail- or campground-building, said Forest Service spokesman Rex Holloway.
Environmentalists decried the change, saying it would double logging on federal land in the region and have disastrous consequences for rare species. But Holloway said most old-growth forest in the region - 86 percent - remains protected.
The rules change applies only to old-growth and other forests designated for logging under the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan.
"We feel fairly confident that remaining old growth will provide sufficient habitat for the remaining species," Holloway said. "And there are still riparian reserves, there are buffers along streams, and even when we're harvesting we still have to leave 15 or 16 green trees per acre, so there is some habitat for some of these species."
The change was prompted by a timber industry lawsuit and is intended to boost logging on 24 million acres of public land in Washington, Oregon and northern California. The timber industry had complained for years that the so-called "survey and manage" rules - which require study of the potential effects of logging on about 300 plant and animal species - are overly intrusive and can take years to complete.
In addition, the administration Tuesday announced a change to another part of the Northwest Forest Plan, known as the Aquatic Conservation Strategy. That part outlines goals for watershed protection; the change clarifies that the agencies will no longer evaluate individual projects on whether they help achieve those goals, but only on whether the agencies meet those goals on a broader, watershed-wide basis.
"The root of our problems is that we have an anti-environment president who sits in the White House," said Regna Merritt, executive director of Oregon Natural Resources Council Action in Portland, Ore. "They are changing the rules and ignoring the science in a way that is simply illegal. They're going to eliminate protections for threatened salmon and leave 47 species at high risk of extinction. The idea of looking before you log was that way we could prevent hundreds of species from going extinct."
The "survey and manage" rules had been used to protect small blocks of old growth still standing within areas designated for logging, known as matrix lands. Matrix lands amount to 1.1 million acres in the three-state region.
What is Bush calling this action, "Healthy Clearcuts"? It still baffles me that one administration can do so much long-term damage in such short order. Saint Ralph are you listening!!