U.S. Forest Service Slammed

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

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2/10/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

The United States Forest Service is copping some pretty serious flack

about now. A recent study indicates that in the US, and in Canada,

there has been a serious overestimation of how much timber can be

harvested sustainably. "Despite urging other countries to log

sustainably, neither country has reliable data on the size of its own

forests, how much timber grows in them or how much can be removed

before biodiversity suffers." As in much of the rest of the world,

"forestry scientists simply work out how much timber is growing and

assume it can all be harvested." In the same week, the inspector

general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated that the U.S.

Forest Service is not doing enough to protect the environment when it

sells timber to logging companies.

To be fair, there are indications the Forest Service is working to

reform itself. However, there is much resistance. Following are

three most interesting articles covering various aspects of the

situation.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: Chainsaw massacre

Source: New Scientist

Date: Thursday February 6, 1999

Byline: Fred Pearce

The US and Canada have seriously overestimated how much timber they

can harvest without harming their forests, claims a leading

international science agency. Despite urging other countries

to log sustainably, neither country has reliable data on the size of

its own forests, how much timber grows in them or how much can be

removed before biodiversity suffers.

The US harvests more than 500 million cubic metres of timber a year.

The government's Forestry Service says this amount could be increased

by more than 40 per cent by 2040. But a report published on the

Internet (see www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/FOR/) this week by the

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria

concludes that this increase will be possible only if serious

environmental damage is done, or if protected areas are violated. For

example, the plan would lead to serious deforestation in southern

states such as Georgia and Mississippi.

"Both the US and Canada are urging other countries to manage their

forests in a sustainable way, but they do not have their own house in

order," says Sten Nilsson, the author of the report and one of the

world's leading analysts of forestry data. The problem, he says, is

that national data on wood supplies take no account of government

commitments to maintain tree cover, protect against erosion and

sustain biodiversity in forests. Forestry scientists simply work out

how much timber is growing and assume it can all be harvested.

Nilsson describes the situation in Canada as "desperate". Official

statistics still refer to a 1985 study of timber growth. He believes

it overestimates growth by as much as 40 per cent in some provinces

and that the rate of harvesting in Canada is now approaching twice

the rate of replanting. Nilsson also points out that while plundering

its own forests, Canada has been "a driving force in funding model

forests in a number of countries in order to illustrate how

sustainable forest management should be carried out".

Thomas Schmidt, a research scientist at the US Forest Service's

experimental station in St Paul, Minnesota, helped provide data for

the report. He admitted this week that US statistics on timber do not

consider many factors--such as economics, accessibility and

environmental restrictions--that affect the amount available for

harvest.

Schmidt told New Scientist that he expected "some anger" within the

agency about the findings. But they would be hard to contradict, he

said, since the authors had an excellent reputation and many of the

figures used in the report were the agency's own. "We need to raise

our standards," he says. Nilsson says his data also cast new doubt on

the recent claim that American forests are absorbing a large

proportion of the carbon dioxide emissions from the US (Science, vol

282, p 442).

ITEM #2

Title: Government report slams Forest Service

Source: Associated Press

Date: Thursday February 4, 1999

EUGENE -- The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

says the U.S. Forest Service is not doing enough to protect the

environment when it sells timber to logging companies.

"Immediate, corrective action is needed to ensure that the interests

of environmental, logging and other groups are safeguarded," Inspector

General Roger Viadera said in a letter to Forest Service Chief Mike

Dombeck.

His letter followed a new government report that found "numerous

serious deficiencies" in environmental studies the Forest Service uses

to justify logging.

The Forest Service, which runs 13 national forests in the Northwest,

is an agency of the Agriculture Department.

Conservationists said the report proves what they have been saying for

years: that environmental studies and documentation the agency uses to

justify logging are inadequate and not trustworthy.

"This report is yet another scathing criticism of a federal program

that should simply not exist," said John Talberth, director of Forest

Guardians, a New Mexico-based environmental group.

"Now, the inspector general is adding one more reason: that the Forest

Service cannot be trusted to tell the truth about the consequences of

timber sales or follow through on its promises to minimize

environmental, social and economic impacts."

Officials at Forest Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., could

not be reached for comment Tuesday.

However, the report said that in discussions with agency officials,

"the Forest Service generally agreed with the issues and

recommendations presented" in the report.

Environmentalists said the latest report, combined with other recent

government studies critical of the agency, supports their claim that

logging on national forests should be halted. Other reports have

focused on the hundreds of millions of dollars the agency loses every

year in selling government timber to private companies.

The Forest Service is required to do environmental studies of the

impacts of its actions, such as selling timber and building roads. The

agency writes 4,000 to 5,000 environmental assessments each year, with

about half associated with timber sales, according to the report.

In looking at a sampling of environmental assessments, the inspector

general's office found 10 or 12 cases in which the Forest Service

didn't take the steps it planned to minimize or reduce the

environmental damage caused by logging and road building. Nor did the

agency adequately monitor the aftermath of logging and road building,

as it promised, the report said.

In 25 percent of the cases, the timber sale contracts authorized

companies to log more trees than were spelled out in the environmental

assessments.

The report also said the environmental assessments failed to mention

364 of 436 threatened or endangered species that could be present in

the habitat to be harvested.

ITEM #3

Title: Forest Service Seeks Mining Ban

Source: Associated Press

Date: Thursday February 4, 1999

Byline: JOHN HUGHES

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Forest Service wants a two-year ban on new

hard-rock mining claims on 429,000 acres of national forest land on

the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in Montana.

``The Forest Service has a long and storied history of working to

protect the incredible fish, wildlife, cultural and scenic resources

of this area,'' Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck said in announcing

the move Wednesday in his second annual ``State of the Forests''

speech at the University of Montana in Missoula.

``I intend to continue that tradition,'' Dombeck said in disclosing

his request to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, whose agency oversees

mining operations.

The Forest Service also will cut back on roaduilding, rely less on

logging revenues to fund agency operations and launch a new effort to

protect and restore watersheds on forest land, he said.

The Montana land being withdrawn from new mining claims includes

400,000 acres in the Lewis and Clark National Forest and 29,000 acres

in the Helena National Forest.

``The value of the Rocky Mountain Front goes well beyond that of any

oil or minerals we could extract from it,'' said Sen. Max Baucus, D-

Mont., who had asked the Forest Service to consider placing the area

off limits.

The Front is known for its wildlife, including elk, bighorn sheep and

grizzlies.

There will be a two-year period of public comment before the agency

decides whether to bar new mining claims there for up to 20 years. The

Forest Service announced in 1997 that oil and gas drilling would be

banned in the area for 10 to 15 years.

There were roughly 104 mining claims on the land in 1996, but nearly

all have been inactive, said Forest Service spokesman Chris Wood. The

old claims could still be exercised if they are proven valid, Wood

said.

Dombeck also pledged to protect other forest-wilderness areas.

In future, the agency ``will rarely build new roads into roadless

areas, and if we do, it will be in order to accomplish broader

ecological objectives,'' he said.

The Forest Service has been considering a plan that would halt road

building in 35 million acres of roadless land for up to 18 months

while the agency drafts a new road policy.

While pledging to move ahead with that effort, Dombeck said he wants

to act aggressively to get rid of roads that are not needed or

maintained.

The Forest Service is only able to maintain about 18 percent of its

roads to a desired standard. With Congress' help, Dombeck said he

wants to increase the amount of adequately maintained roads to 24

percent by next year, and increase the miles of road the Forest

Service scraps or repairs by 50 percent over 1998 levels.

As for agency funding, Dombeck acknowledged the Forest Service relies

too much on logging receipts to cover overhead costs.

``Given that timber production on national forests has declined by 70

percent in less than a decade, such an approach is unsustainable,'' he

said.

The Forest Service will seek legislation and make changes internally

to reduce reliance on those revenues, which are not subject to

congressional authorization or open to public scrutiny, Dombeck said.

The forest chief also said he would:

-Make watershed improvement a priority in all future forest plans.

Budget requests and employee evaluations will be linked to the effort.

-Add 74 million acres of state and private forest land by next year

to the 442 million public and private acres the Forest Service already

evaluates for forest health.

-Create a wilderness advisory group and use forest-management plans

to better manage and identify undeveloped areas in national forests.

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