Logging Plan Is Upheld

A Bush administration official Thursday declined to overturn a Sierra Nevada forest protection plan adopted in the final days of the Clinton presidency.

In a move criticized by timber and recreational interests, U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey let stand management guidelines that significantly reduce logging on 11.5 million acres of national forest that run the length of the Sierra Nevada.

The decision, which Rey announced at a news conference, is the latest round in a long, intense battle over federal forests.

Opponents of the plan’s logging limits and wildlife protections filed more than 200 appeals against the guidelines and then, after Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth upheld them in November, flooded Rey’s office with requests to set aside Bosworth’s action.

Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist, called the document the Forest Service’s best effort yet at addressing management issues in the Sierra Nevada. But he also left the door open to changes, citing Bosworth’s directive that several aspects of the blueprint be reexamined.

“We have a considerable amount of latitude . . . to do the evaluation the chief directed and move forward,” Rey said.

The Sierra document, issued in January after years of study and revision, embodied a shift in Forest Service philosophy under the Clinton administration. Timber cutting dropped dramatically as the service’s historical emphasis on lumber production gave way to environmental and wildlife concerns.

The blueprint further reduces logging in the Sierra Nevada’s 11 national forests, limits activities near streams, preserves the largest trees, and protects nesting sites and dens of rare birds and animals.

Representatives of several environmental groups were delighted by Rey’s decision, which they contended he had little choice in making.

Because heavier logging would force into play endangered species protections, “There’s very little room to maneuver in this plan,” said Jay Watson, regional director of the Wilderness Society.

Craig Thomas of the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign also maintained that if the Forest Service tinkered with fundamental aspects of the plan preserving the largest trees and requiring retention of forest canopy, the agency would immediately be taken to court by environmentalists.

Regardless, the Sierra plan may wind up at the courthouse.

“I think there’s a very good chance there will be some sort of litigation,” said Don Amador of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a recreation group that fears the plan’s wildlife protections will close forest roads and campgrounds.

“This is really a decision made in Washington, D.C., and not at the local level,” Amador said. “I think a lot of rural interest groups are going to be upset with the Bush administration.”

David Bischel, president of the California Forestry Assn., said he is profoundly disappointed that Rey let the management blueprint stand. The policy, he said, locks up the mountain range’s national forests. “This closes a great big door and throws away the key.”

The plan, he said, virtually eliminates timber cutting, leaves dense growth that will fuel devastating wildfires and relies to a dangerous degree on controlled burns.

The fire issue is among those to be reexamined under Bosworth’s ruling. He asked the Pacific regional forester to determine how the Sierra guidelines fit with national firefighting efforts, how they deal with fire danger in California and to what extent they conflict with a congressionally approved pilot project for managing part of the range.

Rey said Thursday that he expected regional forester Jack Blackwell to issue a plan for dealing with those points within the next week.