An exercise in excess

REGISTER-GUARD EDITORIAL
August 12, 2007

The federal government can increase logging on public lands - and honor its financial commitment to rural counties - without bringing back wholesale clear-cut logging and abandoning the fish and wildlife habitat protections of the Northwest Forest Plan.

A Bureau of Land Management proposal would nearly triple logging allowed on 2.5 million acres of public forests in western Oregon. It would accomplish that in part by reducing critical habitat protections for the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet and by cutting older trees that are now protected.

Rural counties are understandably salivating. They would receive 50 percent of revenues from timber sales on former Oregon & California Railroad lands managed by the BLM.
That wouldn't match what the counties received under the Secure Rural Schools program, the safety net approved by Congress to compensate for declining timber harvests in the 1990s. But it would get them tantalizingly close - officials estimate the 18 O&C counties in Oregon would get $108 million annually compared to the $115 million they received in 2005. Rural communities would benefit from thousands of new jobs that generated by the increased logging.

A bit of background: The Northwest Forest Plan was created in 1994 to settle a lawsuit brought by environmental groups. It amended the U.S. Forest Service and BLM forest management plans to reduce logging by more than 80 percent to protect habitat for spotted owls, salmon and other species that reside in old growth forests.

Three years ago, the BLM settled a timber industry lawsuit charging that the agency had failed to fulfill its financial obligations to Oregon counties under a 1937 law that directed that O&C forests should be managed for "permanent timber production" and for the economic stability of rural counties and communities.

The industry's frustrations are understandable. The BLM has been unable to meet targets under the Northwest Forest Plan. Annual timber production has averaged 134 million board feet, far below the permitted harvest of 205 million board feet.

But there are other ways to boost timber production. The BLM should follow the example set by the Siuslaw National Forest, which has resolved the conflict over old growth by focusing its harvest program on thinning crowded stands of younger trees, rather that cutting old growth. It's an approach that increases timber yield while emphasizing forest health - and that adds jobs in the forest products industry without reviving the controversy and gridlock that accompanies old growth timber sales.

There are also other ways to help Oregon's counties. Congress should extend or, better yet, make permanent the Secure Rural Schools Act and honor the commitment it made a century ago to compensate Oregon counties in lieu of taxes on the vast tracts of federal forests that make up more than half this state.

The BLM's proposal is part of a pattern by the Bush administration, which has been rolling back habitat protections while ramping up logging, oil and gas drilling, mining and other natural resource extraction activities on public lands.

With its latest proposal, the BLM is ignoring legal realities. Despite the administration's best efforts, the Endangered Species Act remains the law of the land. Federal courts have repeatedly halted efforts to increase logging in old-growth timber, and it's highly doubtful they will have a sudden change of heart regarding the BLM's plan.

But speculation about future lawsuits is premature. The BLM's proposal is just the beginning of a lengthy process. A final decision is not due until the spring of 2008, and the federal agency will now seek public feedback on its plan.
Oregonians should let the agency know exactly what they think.