Deal May Allow Some Owl Area Logging

The Clinton Administration took a key step Thursday to secure support for its long-term Northwest timber harvest plan, striking an interim deal under which logging would be permitted in some areas of Washington and Oregon that have long been off-limits.

Under an agreement reached with environmental groups, the Administration would seek federal court approval to allow the sale of 83 million board feet of lumber from national forests that are home to the endangered spotted owl. All of the sales would take place before early next year, when the Administration’s long-term forestry plan would take effect.

Twelve environmental groups that had fought timber sales agreed to let the sales proceed and promised not to initiate further litigation. In return, the Administration agreed to oppose any efforts in Congress to pass laws that would prevent environmentalists from challenging elements of the Administration’s long-range plan in court.

“This is a good agreement, a constructive agreement,” President Clinton said. “It reflects our commitment to end the gridlock, to replace confrontation with cooperation and to make every effort to move timber back to the mills.”

Environmental groups, which won virtually everything they had sought from the negotiations, hailed the agreement, calling it a victory for citizens who will continue to have the right to challenge federal government decisions in federal court.

But timber industry representatives called the timber sales “a drop in the bucket,” adding that they would be barely enough to keep a medium-sized mill running for a year.

The Administration now will seek the approval of U.S. District Judge William Dwyer of Seattle for the immediate sale of the 83 million board feet. In 1991, Dwyer banned such a sale after concluding that the federal government was permitting overharvesting on public land and further endangering the spotted owl population.

Dwyer had ordered the ban to remain in effect unless the federal government came up with a long-term plan by the end of this year to protect endangered species on the lands. The Administration unveiled such a plan in August and is expected to present that blueprint to Dwyer by year’s end.

Beginning in 1994, Clinton’s larger plan would limit logging on federal lands west of the Cascade Mountains to 1.2 billion board feet per year for the next 10 years--a figure representing a decline of about 75% from the lumber industry’s peak harvests in the late 1980s.

Meanwhile, officials said that they are eager to get timber moving through mills that have been idled or at low production levels for almost three years.

“No one is pretending this is a large volume of timber, but this is an important agreement,” said Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. “These two sides, which have been engaged in an aggressive, pitched battle for more than a decade, have finally agreed to work together. This is the best tangible evidence to date that this is in fact a new day in Northwest forest management.”

Jim Lyons, assistant secretary of agriculture for natural resources and the environment, added that the Clinton Administration has commitments from environmentalists to review their opposition to another 67 million board feet of timber that the Administration has sought to clear for sale.

Moreover, Lyons said, the Oregon Natural Resources Council, a leading plaintiff in many of the Northwest’s most acrimonious suits, has agreed to meet with the Administration and timber groups to discuss ways to avoid litigation in the future.