Lawsuit Test Economics of Logging U.S. National Forests
http://forests.org/-- Forest Conservation Archives
12/17/98
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Title: Lawsuit Test Economics of Logging U.S. National Forests
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 12/17/98
BURLINGTON, Vermont, December 17, 1998 (ENS) - A logger, the president
of a paper company, a resort owner, and 11 other individuals and
organizations today filed suit in Federal District Court in Burlington
against the U.S. Forest Service, claiming the logging of national
forests has hurt them economically in violation of federal law. The case
seeks to shut down the entire Forest Service logging program on economic
grounds.
This case differs from other lawsuits against the Forest Service which
usually claim damage to land, water and endangered species.
"Numerous laws and regulations say that the logging program must make
economic sense. We intend to compel the Forest Service to follow the law
and determine the net economic and social benefits of standing timber
versus logged-over forests," said Brian Dunkiel, a Vermont based
attorney
representing the plaintiffs.
The U.S. Forest Service is responsible for over 190 million acres of
publicly owned forests nationwide. By law the Forest Service must manage
these lands in the way which provides for the greatest social and
economic well-being of individuals and the nation as a whole.
"The Forest Service logging program hurts my business because our paper
products come from recycled paper, not trees cut with the help of
taxpayer subsidies," said plaintiff Jeffery Hollander, president of
Seventh Generation Paper Company based in Burlington. "The Forest
Service's failure to comply with the law means our employees, investors
and the communities we support are placed at a disadvantage."
The suit also demands that the Forest Service fulfill its legal
obligation to assess and document the social and economic impacts of the
logging program. Significant economic impacts are routinely overlooked
even though the Forest Service has the expertise and methods to account
for them.
The Forest Service must annually prove to Congress that its management
of
the forests provides maximum social and economic benefits for the least
cost. But its annual budget request has never included an analysis of
the
costs and benefits of the logging program, the plaintiffs say.
"An accurate accounting will show that National Forests are far more
valuable to society as standing forests," said Brent Blackwelder,
president of Friends of the Earth and a plaintiff in the lawsuit,
"because the program loses up to a billion dollars a year in direct
costs, and many more dollars in indirect costs, to taxpayers and clearly
damages local economies."
Participants in the lawsuit include:
* A small woodlot owner from Oregon placed at an economic disadvantage
by
corporations which receive public subsidies to clear-cut federally owned
forests.
* The former Mayor of Oakridge, Oregon whose town's clean, pure water
supply was destroyed by sedimentation caused by logging. That damage
forced the town to spend millions of dollars to drill wells.
* The owner of a medicinal herb company in Indiana whose source of
income
depends on healthy, standing forests.
* An avid hunter from Arizona who loses opportunities to hunt when
forests are logged. In turn, local businesses such as guides,
outfitters, equipment suppliers and lodge owners lose income from
visiting hunters.
* A birding guide from Minnesota whose loss of business opportunities
has
not been accounted for in logging plans for a forest she regularly uses.
* A resort owner from Oregon impacted when forests around his business
are logged, thus destroying the scenery and recreational opportunities
which attract customers. Logging trucks driving by his business also
disturb customers.
* A mushroom harvester and restaurant owner from Montana who lost crops
when forests near him were logged.
* A former Forest Service timber sale planner and a fisheries biologist.
* Environmental and outdoor groups including Friends of the Earth and
the
Federation of Western Outdoors Clubs; scientists and natural resource
economists including Ed Whitelaw, Randall O'Toole, Tom Power and Robert
Costanza who document how the logging program negatively impacts the
economy of communities and the nation as a whole.
Plaintiff Timothy McDevitt is an owner of Breitenbush Hot Springs
Retreat & Conference Center, Inc., a wilderness retreat center in the
central Cascade Mountains of Oregon surrounded by the Willamette
National Forest.
Breitenbush Hot springs hosts over 20,000 guests annually, and grosses
over 1.3 million dollars a year. The largest residential employer in the
area Breitenbush provides jobs for 40 people year-round and 20
additional
employees seasonally. McDevitt complains that commercial forestry on
national forestlands around Breitenbush Hot Springs has resulted in
guests leaving, cancelled reservations, and the threat of large events
being cancelled.
By law, before the Forest Service decides to log an area, the agency
must
show that the socio-economic values associated with logging exceed the
socio-economic values associated with those forests as intact
ecosystems.
The law requires that the benefits of logging be greater than the
overall
costs to society, including costs to the federal treasury, businesses
and
communities that derive benefits from unlogged forests, and businesses
that compete with the federal logging program.
The law requires the Forest Service to disclose all costs and benefits
associated with timber sale program decisions in a comprehensive,
rigorous, consistent, and scientifically supported manner.
These requirements appear throughout the Multiple Use and Sustained
Yield
Act, the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act the
National Forest Management Act, and the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA). These requirements are also found in planning regulations,
Council on Environmental Quality NEPA regulations, the Forest Service
manual, the Forest Service's Handbook for Social and Ecoomic Analysis
and the Timber Sale Preparation Handbook.
c Environment News Service (ENS) 1998
http://ens.lycos.com/
http://www.ens-news.com/