The Bush Administration is in the process of eliminating an important component of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, further imperiling more than 460 protected species, the Northwest ecosystems that shelter them, and the region's water and air quality. The Administration released a report early this year recommending the end of the "Survey and Manage" program, an important check on logging in fragile ancient forests.[1]
The Survey and Manage standard in the Northwest Forest Plan requires the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to "look before logging" -- to survey public lands for 460 plants, fungi and fauna native to northwest forests. The need to protect these species, which serve as indicators of forest health, has often reduced or canceled logging of old growth forests.
Survey and Manage is an important tool for groups opposed to industrial logging of America's remaining ancient forests. Northwest conservationists have filed more than 100 appeals when government agencies failed to survey proposed logging sites, and have undertaken citizen surveys when the Forest Service failed to study an area thoroughly. The results have been used in court to modify or halt some timber sales.[2]
"This is just another hand-out by the Bush Administration to big business at the expense of the public and our environment," says Sandi Scheinberg, executive director of Bark, a Portland, Oregon-based organization dedicated to protecting the Mt. Hood National Forest. "They are clearly more interested in subsidizing the timber industry than preserving our forests."[3]
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TAKE ACTION
Check the Forest Action Datebook and submit your comments to the Forest Service.
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SOURCES:
[1] BARK press release, Jan. 23, 2004.
[2] BARK fact sheet.
[3] BARK press release, Jan. 23, 2004.
