OTHER NEWS - Sept. 15, 1995

Court Victory for Timber Industry: U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene, Ore., ruled that budget legislation Congress passed this year requires the Clinton Administration to release to loggers thousands of acres of old-growth timber previously withheld for environmental reasons. Timber industry officials said Wednesday’s decision vindicates their position that a provision of a bill signed into law by President Clinton in July requires the release of some 600 million board-feet of previously sold timber. Under the Administration’s interpretation of the law, only 300 million to 400 million board feet would be released, said Chris West of the Northwest Forest Resource Council, the industry group that brought the suit. Under Clinton’s forest plan, which ended litigation over the old-growth habitat of the northern spotted owl, about a billion board feet of federal timber is to be made available in the region annually, compared to 4 billion in the 1980s.