10/27/00 -- Gore Says He'll Support Preservation of Old-growth Forests

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Gore Says He'll Support Preservation of Old-growth Forests

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives & Portal

10/27/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

The U.S. government's next four years of environmental policy-making

come at a critical juncture for planetary ecological sustainability.

Urgent decisions regarding forest conservation, climate change and

other issues must be made. Who will meet this challenge? Al Gore

has a formidable and real record of environmental accomplishment. He

is proposing to end most old-growth logging, wants to strengthen the

protection of roadless areas, and has shown a continuous support for

rainforest conservation and remedial climate change policy even when

it was unpopular (remember the "ozone man" ridicule). As I served as

a Peace Corps volunteer in Papua New Guinea over a decade ago,

imagine my surprise when then Senator Gore released a major statement

that galvanized action that contributed to conserving that country's

valuable rainforests. This is one of thousands of selfless acts,

when few others cared, that show Gore is the most "green"

presidential candidate ever. His stances are not as absolute as the

Green Party candidate, but governing requires less stridency and more

compromise. Al Gore is the environmentalist that can govern.

g.b.

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Title: Gore says he'll support preservation of old-growth forests

Date: October 27, 2000

Conservationists feel optimistic that the vice president will support

an end to old-growth logging after the Gore campaign released a

statement restating his position on timber policy.

"We've known for a long time that he's been a leader in developing

policy for roadless areas," said Regna Merritt, executive director of

the Oregon Natural Resources Council. "What is new is that he has

taken a position on ancient forests."

The statement comes after Al Gore's appearance in Portland on Sunday,

when he stressed his commitment to the environment. It says that as

president, Gore would "examine current policies, harness the best

science and consult with environmental and community groups to

identify and implement measures to protect and preserve remaining

old-growth forest areas."

The statement also promises that Gore will ensure that the Eagle

timber sale on the Mount Hood National Forest meets the highest

environmental standards.

The Gore campaign took credit this week for pressing Agriculture

Secretary Dan Glickman to order a review of the Eagle sale. The

logging contract could be canceled if environmental problems are

found, Glickman said in a letter Tuesday to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said the new

language in Gore's campaign statement is "important when coupled with

the Eagle Creek decision."

In May, Gore pledged to expand President Clinton's proposal to ban

road-building on 43 million acres of the nation's most pristine

forest lands. Gore said he also would support a logging ban and would

extend the roadless policy to include Alaska's Tongass National

Forest.

Conservationists spent the summer pressing Gore to go further. They

wanted his pledge to protect not just roadless forests but all old-

growth forests managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Old-growth forests

are forests that have never been logged.

Under the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, about 50 percent of the timber

harvest is estimated to come from old-growth stands, according to the

Forest Service. The forest plan was an effort to restart logging in

the Northwest after it ground to a halt in 1991 over concerns about

protecting the northern spotted owl. It reduced logging on federal

lands in the Northwest by more than 80 percent.

"I think Al Gore has committed to the people to take up the issue of

ending ancient forest logging," said Ivan Maluski, Northwest

organizer for the American Lands Alliance, a conservation group based

in Washington, D.C.

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