California Timbermen Urge Easing of Logging Laws

California loggers have proposed last-minute legislation to the state’s congressional delegation to ease enforcement of environmental laws and boost logging in California’s national forests, it was learned Thursday.

The legislation, by the Timber Assn. of California, parallels a proposal by Sens. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Oregon) and Brock Adams (D-Wash.) to ease the timber shortage that threatens to cripple the Pacific Northwest timber industry.

California faces a similar debate over how to preserve spotted owls without putting loggers out of work but is not directly covered by the Hatfield-Adams talks because it is in a different region of the U.S. Forest Service.

The draft legislation--which would be added later this month to spending bills for the Agriculture and Interior departments--promises to “minimize” the loss of owls and the scientifically valuable forests in which they live. But, as with the Oregon-Washington proposal, it makes clear that the forests’ top priority should now be meeting minimum harvest levels.

The proposed “cut” in California’s national forests would be 3.6 billion board feet for fiscal years 1989 and 1990, with at least 1.4 bbf of that from the Coast Range forests favored by the rare owl.

That two-year total is equal to the historic annual average sale of 1.8 bbf in California. However, only about 1.2 bbf will actually be cut this year, so the proposal would allow 2.4 bbf in sales in 1990, which would double the current rate at which California’s dwindling virgin national forests are falling.

Additionally, the California proposal also contains provisions limiting the rights of citizens to challenge timber sales that may illegally force the rare owl closer to extinction. It also would forbid courts to issue any injunctions tying up sales to protect the owls.

Members of Congress from California who saw the proposal, including Sen. Alan Cranston, were said to “strongly oppose” this restriction. Bill Dennison of the Timber Assn. of California said Cranston is the key to passing the proposal.