Jan. 10 & 11 - Fri. & Sat. - Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife sponsors a Fish and Wildlife Congress - Evergreen State College, Long House, Olympia - To broaden communication, understanding and public support for fish and wildlife needs in Washington - Open to general public as well as professionals - Contact Kim Ryan at 360/902-2227
Well, Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and it's a perfect opportunity to express appreciation for the supporters and friends of QUAFCO during the past seven years.
First thanks go to Bob Crowley for his vision and organization in helping create and initially steer us. He was a strong voice for the forest, and had to participate in quite painful decisions resulting from the original 1990 Section 318-mandated cutting.
Dana Fickeisen created our logo, which graces our newsletter, letterhead, business cards, banner and posters. We always get compliments on it; folks think it's neat!
Dave Olsen provides computer consultation and support. He also created and maintains our web site of newsletters, which I again encourage you to check out. There are some clever visuals and links. We recently got a new shorter address which is: http://quafco.home.ml.org
Chief Jack Ward Thomas plans to resign in November to teach at the Univ. of Montana. Thomas said no politics were involved in his decision, but the agency has been under heavy fire from the Administration for its implementation of the logging rider.
Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman was forced to issue a memo July 2 to reign in some of these abuses.
Thomas had also appeared to contradict Administration policy by calling for substantial changes to laws affecting forest management, such as the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In a statement to the media, Jim Jontz, Western Ancient Forest Campaign director said, "Chief Thomas' resignation comes after a disastrous year of Forest hell in which the Forest Service couldn't resist using the Logging Rider to plunder the woods. Regrettably Chief Thomas chose to defend the indefensible actions of his agency rather than stop their abuses.
"The White House now understands, and the Congress should also, that the Forest Service needs real reform--that means more than a new Chief.
"A balanced policy that respects clean water, ancient forests, and the public's interest in good forest stewardship will require real changes in the Forest Service. Most of us know Jack Thomas as a friend and we wish him well in his new undertakings."
The need for a new Chief and the expiration of the logging rider offer the next Administration an excellent opportunity to kickstart forest management reform.
FOREST HEALTH BILL DIES, BUT ISSUE REMAINS
Senator Larry Craig's Forest Health bill S.391 never made it to the Senate floor for a vote this session, due to the hard work of grassroots and national organizations, but activists can expect another round of legislation in the 105th Congress. Craig also has plans to introduce a comprehensive rewrite of NFMA, which would also affect NEPA and ESA as they apply to public lands. A draft of Craig's bill is expected out soon after the elections.
The House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands held an oversight hearing on Sept. 12 on Forest Service fire control management. The hearing quickly turned into a forum for Rep. Wally Herger to complain that a "time bomb" was about to explode in California's forests thanks to the "billion-dollar national environmental lobby."
Leon Neuenschwander, Professor at the University of Idaho, stated that despite more money being spent on fire suppression, each year the number of acres burned and amount of damage sustained increases. This is a result of the increase in the number of people in the wildlands/urban interface area, the introduction of exotic species of plants, insects and diseases, past human activities that have changed vegetation composition, structure and function (logging & grazing), and the exclusion of fire in fire-dependent ecosystems. He concluded that wildfire cannot be excluded forever, and attempts to do so have enormous economic and ecological consequences.
Jim Lyons, testifying for the Clinton Administration stated that we have experienced a prolonged period of abnormally high fire occurrence. Lyons said the Administration is "aggressively working to improve an already outstanding firefighting agency" by providing additional funding for firefighting. "In fire-adapted systems in the West, we must reduce stand densities by thinning from below, reintroduce fire, and extend the rotation age of timber stands to promote a more fire-tolerant stand structure. Salvaging timber is not in and of itself the answer."
The agency is working to expend its fuel treatment program which over the past three years has treated an average of 495,000 acres annually. In 1997, the agency proposes to treat 600,000 acres.
FORESTS & SPECIES DECLINE - STRONGER ACTION NEEDED
A series of recent reports indicate that forests continue to shrink, more species are being pushed to the brink of extinction, and not surprisingly, stronger international action is needed to stem these declines. World Wildlife Fund released a decade-long mapping project that indicates only about 6 percent of the world's 13 million square miles of forests are protected against logging and other development. The U.N. estimates that between 1980 and 1990 the world lost 13 percent of its forests to logging, farming, and development. At this pace, it would take only 76 years to completely eradicate the world's natural forests. In the lower 48 states, all but 2 percent of the native forests present around the time of Columbus have been logged at least once. The report and maps can be viewed at http://www.panda.org or call 202/293-4800.
The impact on wildlife from lost habitat, pollution, and hunting have been severe. The Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union list of threatened wildlife indicates species continue to decline at an increasing pace. The list was recently updated using revised criteria for determining the risk of extinction, and the news is grim: 1,096 mammals, nearly one-fourth of all known species, are considered threatened, as are 1,108 birds, more than 11 percent of the world's bird species. The number of mammals listed as critically endangered (169), endangered (315) or vulnerable (612) is startling, since this is the first time that the organization, formerly known as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, has fully assessed the status of each of the 4,630 or so species in the world's 26 orders of mammals. In the past only birds, which number 9,670 species, have been evaluated on a comprehensive global scale. The three risk categories are based in large part on the rate of a species' population decline over the last 10 years.
Dr. Russell Mittermier, a primate expert who is president of Conservation International in D.C., called the report "indisputable proof that warnings about global biological loss haven't been exaggerated." More than 500 scientists contributed to the evaluations, which identify 5,205 animals of all kinds as threatened. The document lists 253 reptile, 124 amphibian and 734 fish species as being at risk of extinction, but it emphasizes that thousands of species in those taxonomic groups have not been assessed.
Finally, a report entitled "Corporate Power, Corruption and the Destruction of the World's Forests" by Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a London and Washington, D.C.-based group, says only a new legally-binding global accord could curb the "systematic, unchecked plunder" of forests by logging multinationals. The report highlights the activities of 15 of the world's leading timber and paper groups, including Weyerhaeuser and Georgia-Pacific. "The handful of companies controlling the timber trade have the economic and political might to log wherever they want. Once forests are exhausted in one region, companies simply move elsewhere," says Juliette Williams EIA's forest campaigner. A copy of the report is available from EIA, 15 Bowling Green Lane, London, EC1R 0BD, fax +44 171 490 0436.
William Tinsley, defeated Norm Dicks opponent: "We've got so much old-growth forest out there, for God's sake, the trees are falling down."
George Nethercutt, reelected eastern Washington congressman: "You can't just let the forest deteriorate in its natural state."
QUAFCO News November/December 1996
Copyright © 1996, Quilcene Ancient Forest Coalition All rights reserved.
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