Judge Says Bush’s Easing of Forest Plan Is Illegal

A federal judge has concluded that the Bush administration broke environmental laws last year when it cleared the way for more commercial logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.

In 1994, the government adopted environmental protections and limits on timber harvesting -- the Northwest Forest Plan -- to halt the decline of the northern spotted owl and other wildlife that depended on large, old trees.

Last year, the administration dropped part of the plan -- a requirement that before logging, federal forest managers search for rare plants and animals associated with old growth, and that if the species turn up, managers alter logging plans to prevent harm to the ecosystem.

The administration said the surveys were expensive and time-consuming and had made it impossible for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to conduct the volume of logging permitted under the Northwest plan.

Ruling Monday in a case filed by environmental groups, District Judge Marsha J. Pechman in Seattle said the agencies had violated the law by not fully analyzing the environmental effects of eliminating the surveys. The government had argued that another conservation measure would protect many of the species covered by the survey requirement, but Pechman noted that there was no guarantee those species would be included in the other program.

Though the survey program “was only a part of the overall strategy to protect these species, it was a necessary part,” she wrote.

The judge asked for more legal briefs before she would issue a final order. Forest Service spokesman Rex Holloway said the agency hoped to address Pechman’s concerns without restoring the survey program.

Although the survey mandate was eliminated more than a year ago, Holloway said harvests had not increased substantially because the agency lacked the money to conduct timber sales.

“Until we see significant increases in funding, we’re not going to see significant changes in what we’re offering [for sale] in the Northwest plan,” he said.

The plan covers 24.4 million acres of federal forest, 6 million acres of which is in Northern California. Timber harvesting fell dramatically in the region after the protections were adopted, setting off feuding between loggers and conservationists.