For a long time I was a critic of the Thunderbolt timber sale on the Payette and Boise national forests in Idaho. Its real name was the “Thunderbolt Watershed Restoration Project” because its intent, the public was told, was to help salmon. But it seemed like a timber sale since it called for 3,300 acres […]
Erik Ryberg
Posted inDecember 11, 1995: Hunting: Its place in the West comes under attack
Logging opponents lose – again
In Moscow, Idaho, you can tell it’s fall when Cove/Mallard timbersale protesters start showing up for trial. In the last four years more than 100 people have argued their cases before a variety of magistrates and federal judges, and nearly all have lost. This year was no exception. The largest trial this year involved 12 […]
Posted inSeptember 18, 1995: The West's fisheries spin out of control
Landslide kills fish, raises questions
A thunderstorm near Idaho City, Idaho, Aug. 22 washed out dozens of streams and altered the course of the Boise River, obliterating some native fish populations. The rain fell on a watershed which burned in 1994 and which is being logged this summer as part of the Boise National Forest’s “Boise River Wildfire Recovery Project.” […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Salvage logging means deep cuts
The rescissions bill signed by President Clinton July 27 directs the Forest Service to cut salvage timber – defined as dead, dying or at-risk trees – -to the maximum extent feasible.” What does that mean? An Aug. 18 letter from the Forest Service’s Washington, D.C., office to all regional foresters begins to spell this out. […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Forest Service wants to play by a new set of rules
While reform of the Endangered Species Act captures headlines across the West, some conservationists say an equally important law is also in danger. It is the National Forest Management Act, or NFMA, which has governed watersheds, soils and wildlife for nearly two decades. Forest Service officials now propose wholesale changes in the regulations that implement […]
Posted inOctober 3, 1994: Subdividing the desert: Should there be a vote?
Forest Service accomplishes appeal-proof timber sales
The Forest Service says it has improved the procedure by which citizens can appeal timber sales, but in the agency’s Northern Region, citizens have reason to suspect the opposite. Since the Forest Service revised its procedures in January, 23 citizen appeals have been filed against timber sales in the region. Only one has been upheld. […]