Sept. 11 & 12 - Dark Divide Hiking & Campout Weekend - North Fork Group Camp, 12 mi. S of Randle, Wash. - Washington Trails Assn. - Focusing on FS proposal to create 52 miles of motorized loop trails in nearby roadless areas - For more details or to sign up by Tuesday, Sept. 7, see WTA's web site: www.wta.org or call 800/587-7032.
SENATOR MURRAY AMONG SENATORS HOLDING KEY TO FOREST VOTE
American Lands reports that the Senate will vote on the Interior Appropriations bill starting September 8, the first thing after reconvening. As of this writing, Senator Patty Murray has not made a commitment to support the Bryan/Fitzgerald amendment to the Appropriations bill.
Bryan/Fitzgerald will be the first time an amendment is introduced that will reduce funds for logging (the Timber Sales Management line item) and increase funds for fish, wildlife, road maintenance and decommissioning. Passage of this amendment will send the message that priorities on our National Forests need to change by shifting away from extraction and toward restoration.
The vote of Senator Murray is critical to winning this amendment. Seven Republicans have expressed solid support for the Bryan/Fitzgerald amendment. This Republican support in combination with the base of support from Democratic senators, puts us within striking distance.
But, without the support of senators like Murray, we are not likely to win as she will bring along other Democratic votes.
Senator Murray has a choice:
Should the funding for logging our National Forests be at the level the Chief of the Forest Service recommended?
Or, should funding for logging be $33 million more -- the level endorsed by Senator Slade Gorton?
In the Appropriations committee, Gorton raised the level of funding above the request of the Chief of the Forest Service (and the Clinton Administration) by $33 million. He did this by cutting funds proposed for fish and wildlife protection, road maintenance and decommissioning, an important program to keep roads from contributing silt to streams.
Senator Bryan's amendment would return the level of funding for logging to the level the Chief recommended and add back $23 million to fish, wildlife and road decommissioning. The remainder of the subsidy would go to budget savings.
Please call, fax or e-mail Senator Patty Murray as soon as possible, and urge her to support the Bryan/Fitzgerald amendment and make fish and wildlife a greater priority on our National Forests.
Urge her not to "Side with Slade."
Phone: 202/224-2621
Fax: 202/224-0238
E-mail: senator_murray@murray.senate.gov
Thanks for your help!
COURT UPHOLDS CHALLENGE TO CLINTON FOREST PLAN
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance announced in a press release that in a major ruling on August 2, federal judge William Dwyer agreed with conservationists that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management had failed to protect wildlife on national forests in the Pacific Northwest. The ruling clarifies, once again, that protection of ecological values like old-growth forests, wildlife, fish, and water quality must be assured prior to logging activities.
The Western District of Washington court issued an injunction against nine unlawful timber sales in Washington, Oregon, and California and ordered the government to notify the court prior to awarding more than 100 timber sales that have been appealed by conservation groups. The sales include 1400 acres of old-growth forests on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
In his opinion, Judge Dwyer found that the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management violated the law by: (1) failing to complete surveys for more than 70 wildlife species that require special protection from logging, under the Northwest Forest Plan, and (2) failing to follow the Plan's requirement to survey western Oregon and northern California timber sales for red tree voles, a major prey species for the northern spotted owl. Judge Dwyer said, "These actions by federal defendants are arbitrary and contrary to the plain language of the Record of Decision."
It is important to note that the same principles Judge Dwyer upheld in his important ruling are being attacked by Senator Slade Gorton in the form of his Section 329 Rider on the Senate Interior Appropriations Bill. The rider will in effect waive all wildlife survey requirements for the Forest Service and BLM before any timber sale.
"Senator Gorton is already trying to undermine the judge's ruling to make sure that his Big Timber supporters get their wood regardless of impact to our resources," said Mitch Friedman, executive director for Northwest Ecosystem Alliance.
In his ruling, Judge Dwyer said the Northwest Forest Plan's survey requirements are "clear, plain, and unmistakable." He said, "Far from being minor or technical violations, widespread exemptions from the survey requirements would undermine the management strategy on which the ROD depends. The surveys are designed to identify and locate species; if they are not done before logging starts, plants and animals listed in the ROD will face potentially fatal loss of protection. The plan itself recognized the importance of site-specific analysis."
Judge Dwyer declined conservationists' request for a new Environmental Impact Statement to account for new environmental information that has accumulated since the plan was approved in 1994. In doing so he stated, "If the wildlife survey requirements were abolished or substantially weakened, the outcome . . . might be different."
In fact, the Forest Service and BLM are already considering a major plan amendment that would sub-stantially weaken the Northwest Forest Plan survey requirements. Conservation groups have called on the agencies to reconsider this plan amendment and the recent ruling will add substantial leverage to their call to strengthen, rather than weaken, the forest plan.
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial on August 4 pointed out that this suit is an example of why it's important that citizens be allowed to go to court to force government agencies to uphold the law. They suggest that the environmental groups who filed the suit be thanked "for minding the public's store."
Please contact Senator Slade Gorton and tell him to stop interfering with court rulings.
Phone: 202/224-7233
Fax: 202/224-9393
E-mail: senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov
HOME DEPOT TO GIVE UP SELLING OLD GROWTH
Home Depot has announced that the company will phase out the sale of wood products from old growth forests by the end of 2002. "Our pledge to our customers, associates and stockholders is that Home Depot will stop selling wood products from environmentally-sensitive areas," said Home Depot President and CEO Arthur Blank. "Home Depot embraces its responsibility as a global leader to help protect endangered forests. We will eliminate from our stores wood from endangered areas and give preference to certified wood."
This is a huge victory for everyone who has been encouraging Home Depot to stop selling old growth wood products. Activists need to continue working to ensure that Home Depot fully implements and enforces this policy. Thanks to all the grassroots organizations and activists who worked so hard to bring about this major change of policy to protect old growth forests around the world.
TIMBER INDUSTRY'S SALMON PLAN SPAWNING CONFUSION
Foresters and biologists who tested Washington State's new industry-designed legislation for protecting salmon streams "found policies too complicated to work and protection for some species based on guesswork instead of science," says the Seattle Times. When an attempt was made to apply the legislation on the ground, "two different foresters came up with two different buffer zones, with 60 feet of disputed territory in between," said the Times.
"I've been a forester for 16 years and I'm not comfortable with this," said Eric Wisch of the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
"It's going to be almost impossible to explain and very difficult to implement on the ground....it just isn't going to work....and once trees are cut you can't stand them back up, "said John Edwards, former manager of forest practices for the DNR.
The Washington law was passed to provide for a statewide exemption of timber industry lands from "take" requirements under the federal Endangered Species Act.
This proposed Habitat Conservation Plan is the most recent in a flood of HCPs that are locking in devastating industrial forestry practices on a million acres of private forest lands in the West. Instead of rubber-stamping Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act exemptions called for in the flawed Washington State plan, the Clinton Administration should develop strong rules for protecting imperiled salmon runs.
NEW WEB SITE MAKES ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM EASY
Green Fire Productions has introduced a new environmental web site that makes it quick and easy to learn about major conservation issues and take action to protect our planet: www.greenmedia.org
The Green Fire site enables visitors to watch streaming video clips on featured issues, learn about important campaigns and take immediate action on-line through e-mail letters -- all at one site.
Current featured issues and campaigns include protecting ancient forests on public lands, preserving wilderness areas and wildlife habitats in southern Oregon and Washington state, and encouraging faith-based environmentalism.
The ancient forests section, for example, includes 10 separate video clips that show the beauty of old-growth forests, the wildlife that depends upon them, the devastating effects of clear-cutting and how logging is often hidden behind a roadside "beauty strip".
The on-line action center includes action ideas, sample letters, help locating elected representatives, opportunities to volunteer, links to related organizations and more written information about the issues and campaigns featured.
QUAFCO News Late Summer 1999
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