House OKs Pact on Timber Dispute

The House on Tuesday approved a one-year settlement of the Northwest timber dispute that seeks to provide both greater security for the logging industry and more protection for ancient forests and the northern spotted owl.

The agreement, accepted Friday as a compromise between most Northwestern lawmakers and leading environmentalists in Congress, was adopted by the full House as part of an $11.2-billion spending bill for the Interior Department and related agencies.

The settlement replaces an amendment sponsored by Sens. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.) and Brock Adams (D-Wash.) that would have lifted a court injunction holding up the sale of nearly 2 billion board feet of timber on national forests in the Northwest and prohibited further injunctions during the next year without a trial.

The timber industry blames a series of such injunctions for a log shortage that has forced closure or cutbacks at nearly two dozen mills in Oregon and Washington state.

The compromise goes further in addressing environmental concerns than the original amendment. It releases 1.1 billion board feet of the timber now under injunction, but establishes an expedited 60-day court procedure for future lawsuits against timber sales, provided they challenge just one sale at a time.