CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Loggers Weighing Ecology Proposal

The Timber Assn. of California, after two days of meetings, is still weighing a compromise proposal designed to reduce logging and preserve old-growth forests, a spokesman for the group said. The industry group is considering whether to come up with its own counterproposal or go along with the compromise negotiated by the representatives of environmental groups and Sierra Pacific Industries, one of the state’s largest logging firms, said spokesman Kevin Eckery. “They’re still working on it,” he said. “There are a lot of factors that go into it.” The compromise proposal is designed to avoid another costly battle of initiatives like last year’s campaigns over Proposition 130, the environmentalists’ “Forest Forever” measure, and Proposition 138, the timber industry’s alternative.