***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
United
States Salvage Logging Program Ends Early
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
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."
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