United States Salvage Logging Program Ends Early
12/14/96
OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE
American forests and forest activists alike can release a
collective sigh of relief as the infamous "logging with out laws"
salvage logging program has expired. The salvage logging measure
had originally been conceived as a means to expedite removal of
dead and dying trees, but instead became a means for approval of
industrial logging without enforcement of many existing
environmental laws. The program was to finish at the end of the
year, but allegations that logging applications were being sped
up for approval prior to the deadline have spurred the early
program ending. America's forests have been severely diminished
by years of overly intensive industrial forestry. This is but
the first step towards moving the timber industry into a
sustainable type of production system. Following are two
photocopies from the Washington Post with additional details.
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Administration Curbs Salvage Timber Sales
Early End to Waiver Program Stuns Industry
By Scott Sonner
Associated Press
Saturday, December 14 1996; Page A09
The Washington Post
Bowing to conservationists, the Clinton administration yesterday
ordered an early halt to salvage logging that was to have
continued in national forests through Dec. 31 under a waiver of
laws protecting fish and wildlife.
Agriculture Undersecretary James Lyons signed a directive
prohibiting any new timber sales for the rest of the year under
the "salvage timber rider," according to a copy of the document
dated yesterday and obtained by the Associated Press.
The industry-backed waiver approved by Congress and signed into
law by President Clinton in July 1995 was intended to expedite
logging of dead and dying trees to reduce fire risks.
Environmentalists had accused the Department of Agriculture's
Forest Service of abusing the program, cutting live trees and
rushing to complete last-minute salvage logging in sensitive
areas before the temporary suspension of the environmental
safeguards expires Dec. 31.
"The emergency salvage program . . . has been highly
controversial," Lyons wrote in a directive to acting Forest
Service Chief Dave Unger. "Effective at the close of business
Friday, December 13, 1996, the Forest Service should not
advertise any further" timber sales under the salvage provision,
he said.
Lyons said in the directive that salvage sales already being
advertised for bid could continue and he would consider
"extraordinary circumstances" that would warrant additional
logging moving forward.
The premature end to the operations caught timber industry
leaders by surprise.
"Apparently the administration feels it necessary to appease the
environmental extremists," said Doug Crandall, timber supply
manager for the American Forest and Paper Association.
Several conservation groups had organized a mass telephone
campaign for Monday to try to persuade Clinton to cancel all
remaining salvage sales. Participants were urged to call the
White House and say: "Avoid the Christmas rush -- these sales are
not emergencies."
"Our national forests have been spared from this end-of-year
assault by the timber industry," Bill Meadows, president of the
Wilderness Society, said yesterday.
"By stopping this Christmas rush, the administration has put to
an end one of the worst environmental policies ever passed by
Congress. It means that once again, the timber industry, like
every other American, will have to obey the laws that protect our
forests," he said.
Effective Jan. 1, citizen appeals will be allowed to resume, and
the usual environmental impact statements and other reviews will
be required, as they were before the rider was implemented.
ITEM #2:
The Washington Post
Thursday, December 12 1996; Page A19
Associated Press
Spotty Enforcement Cited For Forest Over-Logging
Spotty enforcement of environmental safeguards led to logging in
areas of national forests with "virtually all live trees" under a
salvage program designed to expedite removal of dead and dying
trees, a government study said yesterday.
The Forest Service and four other federal agencies reviewing the
logging found "substantial variation in field compliance" with
fish and wildlife protection measures Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman ordered in July in response to conservationists who
complained the emergency program was being abused.
"There was considerable variation in the types of sales
identified by field offices as meeting the definition of salvage
sales . . . ranging from sales with virtually all dead trees to
sales with virtually all live trees," the report said.
The White House Office of Management and Budget assisted in the
review, which cites a lack of commitment by some Forest Service
and Bureau of Land Management officials to the Endangered Species
Act.
"This contributes to an adversarial rather than collaborative
interagency relationship," the report said, between the land
managers and the regulators at the Fish and Wildlife Service,
National Marine Fisheries Service and Environmental Protection
Agency -- the other participants in the review.
The report recommends additional "direction and training to
reinforce the need to fully embrace all goals" of the Endangered
Species Act.
Overall, the review found most salvage timber sales complied with
safeguards Glickman imposed and that the agencies worked well
together to improve forest health, protect the environment and
remove rotting timber before it lost commercial value.
Problems stemmed in large part from the "extremely broad"
definition of what constitutes dead or dying trees, the authors
said. They did not specify the locations where logging of
primarily live trees occurred.
Another problem cited was the Forest Service budgeting system,
which rewards high levels of salvage logging.
"Salvage sales, because they can be more easily funded than other
forest health activities, are sometimes selected over other
activities that might be more appropriate in particular
circumstances," the report said.
Under pressure from western Republicans, Congress approved and
President Clinton signed into law in July 1995 the measure
waiving normal environmental protections and blocking citizen
appeals of logging to speed up removal of dead and dying trees
that were adding to fuel loads.
Environmentalists urged Clinton yesterday to cancel any pending
salvage logging still planned under the waiver set to expire Dec.
31.
"This report confirms what citizens have been saying for the past
16 months -- our forests are being horribly mismanaged as a
result of the logging rider," said Connie Stewart, president of
the Western Ancient Forest Campaign.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary James Lyons, in charge of the Forest
Service, said the report "is a pretty solid assessment of what
went right and what went wrong."