Timber targets on Northwestern national forests fell
again in the latest attempt to fine-tune the Northwest Forest Plan
(HCN, 11/23/98).
“Now we have four years’
experience in implementing the Forest Plan,” says Forest Service
spokeswoman Patty Burel. “We’re finding some things need
adjusting.”
The reductions, announced in
December, drop the timber targets on eight national forests by 11
percent, to 848 million board-feet a year.
The
1993 Northwest Forest Plan slashed timber harvests in the region by
80 percent and revamped federal forest management in the Northwest
to protect the endangered spotted owl and other forest species.
Clinton administration officials originally expected the 24 million
acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management forests in
the region to produce 1.1 billion board-feet of timber under the
plan. However, the Forest Service has repeatedly failed to meet its
timber targets.
The agency’s strategy doesn’t add
up for timber industry representatives. “When you’ve got 24 million
acres of the most productive forests in the world, that are growing
8 to 9 billion board-feet of timber a year, and you’re talking
about getting only 800 million board-feet a year, something’s
wrong,” says Chris West of the Portland-based Northwest Forestry
Association.
While environmentalists applaud this
new reduction in timber targets, they’re proceeding with a lawsuit
anyway, charging that the agency is not implementing other elements
of the plan designed to protect endangered old growth forest
species.
“We view any reduction in harvest as a
good thing,” says Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources
Council, but, “we think they’re still overcutting.”
* Chris Carrel
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Timber takes a hit.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
