Changes in old-growth logging rules take effect in Northwest

By Gene Johnson
The Associated Press

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The Bush administration yesterday eased restrictions on logging old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest, finalizing a previously announced rules change that says forest managers no longer have to look for rare plants and animals before logging.

Instead, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management will rely on information provided by Washington, Oregon and California in determining whether to allow logging, proscribed burns, and trail- or campground-building, said Forest Service spokesman Rex Holloway.

Environmentalists decried the change, saying it would double logging on federal land in the region and would be disastrous for rare species. But Holloway said 86 percent of the old-growth forest in the region remains protected.

The rules change applies only to old-growth and other forests designated for logging under the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan.

"We feel fairly confident that remaining old growth will provide sufficient habitat for the remaining species," Holloway said. "And there are still riparian reserves, there are buffers along streams, and even when we're harvesting, we still have to leave 15 or 16 green trees per acre, so there is some habitat for some of these species."

The change was prompted by a timber-industry lawsuit and is intended to boost logging on 24 million acres of public land in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. The timber industry had complained for years that the so-called "survey and manage" rules — which require study of the potential effects of logging on about 300 plant and animal species — are overly intrusive and can take years to complete.

In addition, the administration yesterday announced a change to another part of the Northwest Forest Plan, known as the Aquatic Conservation Strategy. That part outlines goals for watershed protection; the change clarifies that the agencies no longer will evaluate individual projects on whether they help achieve those goals, but only on whether the agencies meet those goals on a broader, watershed-wide basis.

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