This message forwarded by Erin Jordahl
For Immediate Release Contact:
December 17, 2001 Tanya Tolchin ? (202)
675-2385
Sean Cosgrove ? (202) 675-2382
Bush Administration Sets Precedent On Logging National Forests
Former Timber Lobbyist in Administration Decides to Ignore Public Appeals ?
Signals Another Move to Implement Industry's Clearcut Agenda
Washington, DC ? Today the nation's number two forest official issued a
precedent-setting decision that could greatly impact America's National
Forests. Agriculture Department Undersecretary Mark Rey, a former top
timber industry lobbyist, approved logging on 46,000 acres of forest on
Montana's Bitteroot National Forest ? threatening prime habitat for the
imperiled bull trout and other wildlife. By signing off on the proposed
timber sale the Undersecretary removed the ability of citizens to file
appeals on the project and insures that the Forest Service will be taken to
court.
"The Bush Administration is chopping away at the basic laws that protect
our National Forests from unchecked logging and other development," said
Melanie Griffin, director of the Sierra Club's Land Protection Program. "We
call on Undersecretary Mark Rey to listen to the American public and
protect our National Forests for future generations, not sacrifice them for
short term industry profit."
The "Burned Area Recovery" timber sale, the largest salvage logging project
in the history of the Forest Service, is designed to log portions of the
Bitteroot National Forest that were burned in the summer of 2000. The
Forest Service wants to log more than 181 million board feet from the burnt
forest despite opposition from local citizens and scientific evidence that
shows logging increases sediment in streams. Downed and burned trees
reduce erosion, enrich the soil and provide habitat for woodpeckers and
other wildlife. A significant portion of the timber sale is planned for
previously unroaded areas that provide habitat for the threatened bull
trout. Also, allowing natural processes in burnt forests increases the
ability of the forest to recover.
"This project will cause impacts that affect the forest for years to come
and ignores the 4400 citizen comments that opposed the timber sale," said
Jennifer Ferenstein, President of the Sierra Club and a Montanan. "This
decision gives the concerned citizen no other alternative than to take the
Forest Service to court."
In another move today, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth issued a
directive to unravel protections for our undeveloped wild areas in National
Forests, allowing new, destructive development and logging in 58.5 million
acres of unspoiled forests.
In recent months, the Forest Service has released a series of policy
changes that severely undermine protections for National Forests. Recent
directives have opened the door to logging in roadless areas of the Tongass
National Forest, the largest remaining temperate rainforest on earth and
home to grizzly bears and wild salmon. Another recent proposal would make
it easier for the Forest Service to use a loophole called "categorical
exclusions" to fast-track destructive logging projects?even if the logging
will harm endangered species or spoil a wild forest roadless area.
Road construction is particularly damaging to forests. Of the 440,000 miles
of roads in the National Forest System, only 20 percent of these receive
regular maintenance. These roads dump sediment into streams, cause damage
to fish and wildlife habitat and increase the cost of water filtration for
towns.
"Instead of listening to the two million public comments in favor of fully
protecting wild forests, the Forest Service is opening the door to the
timber industry to trash our nation's forests for private profit," said
Griffin. "The least the Forest Service could do is protect these last
wild areas of our National Forests."
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Erin Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
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