A Newsletter by and about the Quilcene Ancient Forest Coalition, October 1996

The White House comment calls were the most im-portant ones to make anyway, in that the ball was in the Administration's court and they appear to not only have dropped the ball but watched it dribble away.

The Clinton Administration still thinks it can "fix" any bad sales, and isn't worried enough about re-election to have pushed for the repeal. Activists will have to persist in documenting and pointing out the continuing problems with rider sales needing to be "fixed."

Makes one reflect on the phrase going around referring to Nader: "Don't Clinton and Dole just make you want to Ralph?"

WAFC had sought repeal of what has been called "the worst public lands legislation ever" in the bill the Congress passed to fund the Forest Service and other government agencies after October 1.

"The White House tried, but not very hard. The congressional leadership came down solidly for business as usual. Now everyone can go out and campaign for protecting the environment while the worst environmental law of the 104th Congress remains in full force," said Connie Stewart, WAFC President.

The agreement by the White House to a funding bill for the Forest Service keeping the Rider in effect came just hours after the PBS broadcast of a David Frost interview with Vice President Al Gore in which Gore said the Logging Rider was the "biggest mistake" of the four years of the Clinton Administration.

"I think the biggest mistake that we have made involved an issue known in the United States as the 'salvage rider,'" Gore said in the PBS interview, admitting that logging under the Rider is damaging National Forest ecosystems.

However, Gore sought in the interview to shift blame to a federal judge and discount the disastrous impacts of the Rider that are yet to be felt.

"Luckily, that law will run out on December 31 and we have a better chance of containing the damage and undoing the worst of it," Gore said.

WAFC has inventoried 163 environmentally objectionable timber sales under the Rider that are anticipated to be offered for sale between now and December 31.

"Rider sales are planned that will clearcut old growth forests, pollute pristine waters, and threaten endangered fisheries and wildlife," says WAFC Campaign Coordinator Steve Holmer.

"These 163 sales have nothing to do with Judge Hogan's ruling," Holmer said. "The Vice President talks about 'containing the damage and undoing the worst of it' but he let our best chance to do this slip away."

Holmer continued that WAFC will work with local conservation leaders to press for cancellation of individual Rider sales. "Virtually every one of these sales can be ended by the Administration if they choose," said Holmer.

A list of sales to be canceled under a directive from Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman is expected to be released soon, but WAFC says that many of the environmentally objectionable sales will not be on the Glickman list.

"The Glickman directive does not cover Option 9 sales, it does not protect uninventoried roadless areas, and it does not prevent logging of old growth forests," says Holmer.

"The Clinton Administration needs to go much further than the Glickman directive to halt bad rider sales."

This agreement was reached as a result of the timber industry lawsuit against the government whereby the industry felt the substitute volume would not have to follow environmental laws. On July 9, 1996 Judge Hogan ordered the Forest Service to "identify and release" alternative timber within 60 days.

This agreement, clearly a compromise on the part of the Clinton Administration would:

• provide "like kind and value" timber--meaning some old growth forests will still be logged. Purchasers are not precluded from accepting second growth, and some will probably go for that if it's quicker to get.
• allow up to three years to provide this timber to the purchasers.
• require the Forest Service to follow all environmental laws and the standards and guidelines of the Clinton Plan.
• provide this timber volume in addition to the normal three-year timber sale program under the Clinton Plan.

What does this mean? The good news is that the sales will have to follow all environmental laws. The bad news is that 176 million board feet of additional old growth forests could be lost (using a standard calculation of 50,000 old growth trees per acre--this would be a loss of at least 3,520 acres of additional old growth forests).

One additional element in the agreement that might interest forest activists is: "...to reduce the possibility that selected alternative timber becomes the subject of legal challenge, once timber is the subject of a tentative agreement, the Forest Service intends to consult with local environmental and local community groups about that alternative volume."

The four Mayr Bros. sales on the Olympic are still being bought out, so will not require any substitute volume. Rep. Norm Dicks has been instrumental in finding the funds to accomplish this. The remaining three Section 318 murrelet sales will be affected by this agreement, if they are not bought out as well. This is another example of how effects of the rider will remain with us for years after Dec. 31.

Oregon Natural Resources Council, Pilchuck Audubon, and WAFC filed suit Sept. 27 seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the logging when they did not receive assurances from the Agriculture and Interior Departments that logging would stop.

But federal judge Michael Hogan "gave the Clinton Administration more time to produce status reports on each timber sale at issue," a release from the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund says. "The government's position is cut first, ask questions later," said SCLDF attorney Kristen Boyles. "The Clinton Administration has the power to stop these timber sales, but is instead bowing to the timber industry's mad rush to log these illegal sales before the environmental harms can be discovered. The Clinton Administration's defense of these timber sales is unfathomable."

The Portland Oregonian reported Sept. 28 that log-ging companies "worked overtime" during the previous week to "beat the Tuesday deadline."

"We asked him not to do it. He did it because of the frustration of small mill towns in Oregon and in Washington that had had sales held up just as harassment." Moore said that AFPA will be pushing for a new "forest-health" initiative next year "that would give forestry professionals more leeway in deciding what's best for the forests."