In a rare environmental victory for the Clinton
administration, a federal judge upheld the president’s plan for
protecting wildlife and allowing some timber cutting in the federal
forests of the Pacific Northwest. Judge William Dwyer of Seattle,
who said in 1991 that federal land managers had committed
“deliberate, systematic” violations of environmental laws, ruled
Dec. 21 that the administration’s plan, known as Option 9, meets
all legal requirements. Option 9 calls for the protection of some
80 percent of the region’s remaining old-growth forests in the
range of the endangered northern spotted owl, though some logging
is allowed in these forests. The timber industry and environmental
groups, both of which had urged Dwyer to reject the plan, were
disappointed by the ruling. “(The decision) will never produce any
meaningful timber for mills in the Northwest,” Ralph Saperstein of
the Northwest Forestry Association told the Seattle Times. The
timber industry says it will pursue another lawsuit that challenges
the process the administration followed in writing the plan.
Environmentalists say they haven’t decided whether to appeal. But
they note that Dwyer indicated he could reverse his decision if the
protective measures, studies and monitoring called for in the plan
are not carried out. Whether the plan is fully implemented depends
on the amount of money Congress appropriates for it this
year.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Option 9 survives.
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