Federal Judge Undercuts Bush Administration Assault on National Forests

>From Environment News Service <www.ens-newswire.com>

Federal Judge Vacates Bush Bid to Undercut Northwest Forest Plan

SEATTLE, Washington, January 11, 2006 (ENS) - In a victory for environmental
groups, a federal court has declared illegal a Bush administration's
decision to eliminate safeguards for old growth forests and the rare plants
and animals that inhabit them.

The ruling handed down late Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Marsha
Pechman vacates the administration¹s decision to eliminate the "Survey and
Manage" standard of the Northwest Forest Plan. Her decision reinstates the
standard, and requires that all timber sales on federal forests in western
Washington, western Oregon, and northwestern California comply with the
standard.

The judge ordered a halt to 144 timber sales in California, Oregon, and
Washington that might jeopardize about 300 species of animals and plants.
The Survey and Manage standard of the Northwest Forest Plan requires federal
agencies to survey an old growth area for rare plants and wildlife before
allowing logging or other development activities and, if found, to modify
their plans to reduce the risk of extinction. The requirement applies only
on federal lands.

"Once again, the courts have insisted that the Forest Service use science
rather than politics and favoritism to protect our northwest ecosystems,"
said Pete Frost of the Western Environmental Law Center. "We hope this ends
the government¹s attempts to roll back the protections the Northwest Forest
Plan affords some of our last remaining old growth forests."

Frost says the Bush administration attempted to eliminate the Survey and
Manage standard along with other safeguards as part of a settlement
agreement with the logging industry over a lawsuit logging interests filed
in 2001.

An old growth stand in the Pacific Northwest (Photo by Nathan Poage courtesy
USGS)

Before a judge could rule on the merits of the case, the Bush administration
agreed to the demands of the logging industry by removing the Survey and
Manage standard.

"The Bush administration's back-room deal with the timber industry was
thrown out," said Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, one
of the plaintiff groups. "The decision to eliminate protection for old
growth wildlife is enjoined, and now the Forest Service and BLM must take
the common sense approach by looking before logging."

The rare and uncommon species protected by the survey standard live
primarily in old growth forests. Of the 144 timber sales planned by the
Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) implicated in the
ruling, one-half would have logged old growth forests.

"This is a huge victory for people who value wildlife and the old growth
forests of the Pacific Northwest," said Rolf Skar, campaign director of the
Siskiyou Project, based in southern Oregon. "It's time for the Bush
administration to recognize that Northwesterners value our natural heritage
and want to see it permanently protected."

³If the Bush administration wants to avoid doing pre-logging surveys for
wildlife, they should stop cutting old growth forests," said Noah Greenwald,
conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Protecting
all old growth is a move supported by a broad majority of the public."
"This ruling helps preserve an important system of checks and balances that
helps protect our old growth forests for wildlife, clean water, and future
generations," Dave Werntz, science director for Conservation Northwest.
³There are hundreds of species that are essential to clean air, clean water,
and the health of old growth forests. The Survey and Manage program,
developed by some of the best scientific thinkers in the region, is a global
model of conservation because it recognizes this important connection,² said
Randi Spivak of the American Lands Alliance.

A Wilson's warbler, a songbird heard in Pacific Northwest forests (Photo by
Joan Hagar courtesy Oregon State U.)

The plaintiffs on the case include: the Environmental Protection Information
Center, Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council,
American Lands Alliance, Siskiyou Regional Education Project, Klamath Forest
Alliance, Umpqua Watersheds, Center for Biological Diversity, Northcoast
Environmental Center, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, and Conservation
Northwest, formerly the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance.

They are represented by the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center and the
Western Environmental Law Center, a non-profit public interest environmental
law firm.

In March 2004, the Bush administration eliminated the Survey and Manage
standard - a central part of the Northwest Forest Plan, since it was adopted
nearly 10 years ago. The Plan was declared to be legal in 1995 in part
because the Survey and Manage standard gave federal officials some assurance
that wildlife in the forests would be adequately protected from logging.
A fundamental principle of the survey and manage rules is to protect habitat
for threatened wildlife to prevent the animals and birds from becoming
endangered.

The Northwest Forest Plan was adopted in 1994 to protect spotted owls, wild
salmon, and over 1,000 other species that call the old growth forests of the
Pacific Northwest home. The plan applies only to federal lands, and was
supposed to provide enough wildlife habitat on federal lands so that private
forests could be managed with fewer restrictions.

The Northwest Forest Plan reduced logging on federal lands at a time when
the logging industry was restructuring to address changing mill technology
and international competition.

Most mills that remain competitive today have retooled to process smaller
trees and obtain most of their log supplies from private lands. Only a few
mills in Oregon and Washington continue to target old growth trees from
federal lands.

Public opinion polls have repeatedly demonstrated that a majority of voters
in Oregon and Washington support protecting all remaining mature and old
growth forest in their states.
Find out more at: http://www.nwoldgrowth.org/InfoStation/infostation.htm