U.S. National Forests Threatened by Logging and Recreation
12/23/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
One would imagine that the United States would be most able to manage
its forests. This is not the case, as roadless areas and old growth
continue to be logged, and the general condition of the National
Forest estate continues to decline. A new comprehensive report
highlights threats to the US's National Forests. It states that
"perverse incentives influence local Forest Service decision makers to
identify logging as the solution to every problem."
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Logging, Recreation Called Biggest Threats to National
Forests
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 21, 1999
Byline: Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, December 21, 1999 (ENS) - A comprehensive new report
by a coalition of environmental groups finds that environmentally
insensitive timber sales threaten a majority of America's national
forests. The first ever "National Forest Yearbook," released today by
the American Lands Alliance, catalogues dozens of current and pending
threats to the nation's 154 national forests.
INSET: The Yearbook says the Santa Fe National Forest has been
abused by high grade logging practices, fire suppression and
destructive grazing practices.
A coalition of more than one hundred forest and grassland
conservation activists and organizations collaborated to produce the
"National Forest Yearbook 1999." The study details present and future
projects and policies that could damage the forests' natural
resources, and urges changes in U.S. Forest Service (USFS) practices
to address these threats.
"The Yearbook presents a picture of an enormously valuable National
Forest System that provides clean lakes and rivers, productive
grasslands and scenic mountains, and abundant fish and wildlife,"
said Randi Spivak, president of the American Lands Alliance. "But
this Yearbook also documents clearly how these assets are at risk."
"Logging in old growth and roadless areas, ORVs out of control, lack
of attention to wildlife needs, and countless other environmental
abuses are degrading our national forests," Spivak continued. "This
Yearbook is not a description of sins from the agency's dark past,
but rather a description of current projects, moving forward right
now in specific national forests, at the initiative of local Forest
Service land managers or with their permission."
INSET: Clearcuts are bleeding sediment into coho spawning grounds in
Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon, killing young fish.
Timber sales approved without sufficient attention to environmental
issues were found to be the most pervasive threat to national
forests. Many timber sales are justified in the name of ecological
"restoration," wildlife protection, or "forest health," the report
notes. In some cases, the sales come about because land managers seek
revenue for more environmentally friendly projects. A number of laws
provide incentives for logging by distributing revenue from timber
sale receipts.
"We give [U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck] and many others in
the agency great credit for trying to steer the ship the right
direction," said Spivak. "But no one realizes better than Chief
Dombeck how many perverse incentives influence local Forest Service
decision makers to identify logging as the solution to every
problem."
Close on the heels of logging as a threat to the National Forests is
recreation. The yearbook documents the growing threat that off road
vehicles, ski resort expansions and privatization pose to the
national forests, as well as the problems that result simply from
budgets that are inadequate to maintain facilities for reasonable and
appropriate recreational use.
The issue of budgets is a recurrent theme in the Yearbook's entries.
The report finds that the USFS budget often starves conservation
programs while promoting a timber sale program that subsidizes
logging which might otherwise not occur.
INSET: The Bankhead National Forest in Alabama faces pressure from
logging and conversion of natural forests into pine plantations.
"As the administration prepares its FY 2001 budget, we urge that
subsidies for harmful timber sales be redirected to beneficial
restoration programs," said Brian Vincent, American Lands' California
organizer. "Why must lynx habitat, trout streams, old growth forests,
and rare plants be at risk from logging on the national forests that
we the public own?"
The Yearbook makes a case against the proposed National Forest
Management Act (NFMA) regulations now pending that would increase
discretion by USFS land managers and remove provisions for citizen
enforcement.
"Instead of more discretion for land managers, we need tougher
regulations to protect the national forests," said Steve Holmer,
campaign coordinator for American Lands. "Every page of the Yearbook
is replete with examples where existing discretion is being abused by
local timber sale planners, line officers, and other decision
makers."
The Yearbook describes many instances where bad projects have been
altered, postponed, or dropped after citizens used their rights of
administrative and legal appeal under the current NFMA regulations to
insure that however weak existing standards are, they are nonetheless
observed.
"The Yearbook makes clear that the key to better national forest
management is not to remove provisions for enforcing agency
accountability, but rather to shift the focus (and resources) of the
agency to landscape restoration rather than commodity production,"
said Holmer. "Strong NFMA regulations are needed to insure that
Forest Plans address such issues as suitability of lands for grazing,
species viability, the impact of invasive species, controls on ORVs,
Wilderness recommendations and others."
INSET: The Mt. Hoffman Roadless Area of the Modoc National Forest in
California is threatened by two proposed geothermal plants that would
be built within a few miles of Medicine Lake.
Not all the news is bad, the coalition notes. Several policy
initiatives now pending will address some of the threats outlined in
the Yearbook. On October 13, 1999, President Clinton ordered the USFS
to develop a rule to ban new road construction in thousands of acres
of roadless National Forest lands. The coalition hopes this policy
will provide clear direction to National Forests for prioritizing
road removal based on wildlife, clean water, and other environmental
needs, and insure that standards are met for proper work.
Important decisions are also pending on the Clinton administration's
"ecosystem management" plans for the national forests in the Pacific
Northwest, the Northwest Forest Plan and the Interior Columbia Basin
Ecosystem Management Plan. A Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement is now under consideration on revisions to the "survey and
manage" requirements under the Northwest Forest Plan, affecting 17
National Forests in northern California, Oregon, and Washington State
west of the Cascades.
The report notes that environmental groups have taken the initiative
to file a petition with the USFS to request administrative rule-
making for more effective regulation of off road vehicles. The
Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads, The Wilderness Society, and 90
other groups filed the petition December 9, seeking new USFS rules to
prohibit cross country travel in National Forests by motorized
vehicles, and insure that ORV routes are designated only where the
agency can demonstrate that adverse environmental impacts will not
occur.
INSET: The Yearbook says "enlightened management" is helping to
restore clearcut areas in Oregon's Siuslaw National Forest.
The Yearbook includes contact information for local forest activists
and organizations working to protect each National Forest. "There is
a remarkable movement in this country to protect our national
forests," said Holmer. "The Yearbook is full of stories of local
citizens who take action and make a difference."
"This Yearbook is our first comprehensive report on all of the units
in the National Forest System," said Spivak. "The next Yearbook, we
hope, will demonstrate significant progress in addressing many of the
current threats to these valuable public lands."
The National Forest Yearbook 1999 is available by calling
202-547-9400 or online at:
http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/yearbook.htm