Wilson Offers New Plan for Logging Restrictions : Legislation: The action comes six weeks after the governor vetoed a Democrat-sponsored forest protection measure. This measure has lumber industry support.

Six weeks after vetoing a Democrat-sponsored forest protection measure, Gov. Pete Wilson unveiled a new compromise plan Tuesday to restrict logging on private timberland that drew substantial support from most lumber interests.

Stepping under trees on the east lawn of the Capitol to make the announcement, Wilson said his new plan would provide protection for watersheds, restrict clear cutting, limit harvesting in ancient and old-growth forests and discourage the conversion of timberlands to other uses.

While the proposed compromise is similar in form to the legislation he vetoed, Wilson said it contained several distinct differences that had attracted a much broader coalition of support than the Democratic proposal. Wilson said his proposal had won the backing of the powerful California Forestry Assn. and the giant Pacific Lumber Co.--both opponents of the vetoed proposal.

He said the strong industry support, coupled with endorsements from the National Audubon Society, Planning and Conservation League and other environmental groups, would ensure passage in the Legislature.

“A decade of conflict is coming to an end and with it, we hope, the timber wars,” Wilson said.

He predicted that the compromise, which involved months of negotiations among environmental groups, timber interests and government officials, would also prompt environmentalists to drop a proposed initiative that places stiffer restrictions on timber harvesting.

A spokesman for the Forest and Water Protection Committee, sponsors of the proposed initiative, said a decision on whether to drop it will be within the next 10 days. Other sources said, however, that Hal Arbit--the wealthy investment manager who sank $5 million into the last forestry initiative campaign--prefers Wilson’s proposal and is not expected to provide financial backing for the initiative.

Despite the broad coalition that has endorsed the proposed legislation, several large timber companies and major environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, either refused support or announced their outright opposition.

“What we’ve got here is a half-baked draft proposal that still needs a great deal of work. . . . Good intentions don’t cut it,” said Darryl Young, legislative representative for Sierra Club California.

Joan Reiss, director of the California/Nevada region of the Wilderness Society, said the proposal allows for harvesting in ancient forests, “which should not be cut” and does not provide enough protection for fragile forest watersheds.

On the other hand, several large timber companies also complained that the Wilson plan was so restrictive that it would force them to cut back operations by as much as 50% and cause more job losses along the state’s economically depressed North Coast.

“There is nothing new about this package that makes it any better than last summer’s legislation, which was vetoed by Gov. Wilson. . . ,” said Tom Herman of Miller-Rellim Redwood Co. “It basically contains the same provisions and rules and will have the same devastating effect on the families of the North Coast.”

Maureen Frisch, public affairs manager for Simpson Timber Co., said Wilson used the threat of an Arbit-backed initiative to split timber interests and push many of the large companies to endorse the legislative proposal.

With their backing, she acknowledged, the new plan would probably pass the Legislature and the chances for opponents to kill it would be “very, very slim.”