More "Wrapping and Agenda"
Logging to triple in the Sierra
The U.S. Forest Service enacted new rules Thursday that would triple the amount of logging allowed in 11.5 million acres of national forest land in California's Sierra Nevada, calling it a necessary step to prevent catastrophic wildfires like the one that ravaged Southern California last year.
``It's wrong to get focused on how much is going to be removed,'' said Forester Jack Blackwell, of the Pacific Southwest Region. ``This is about protecting our forests from wildfires.''
Environmentalists quickly denounced the new rules, calling them a ``guise of fire protection'' for California's forests. They challenged the Forest Service's claim that only small, highly combustible trees will be removed to prevent the risk of wildfires.
The new rules will allow logging of 50- to 100-year-old trees up to 30 inches in diameter that are critical to the health of forests and wildlife, environmentalists said.
``There's a disconnect with the vision and the plan,'' said Jay Watson, director of the Wilderness Society's Wildland Fire Program.
``Basically, these rollbacks will allow timber companies to go further out into the back country and cut more trees. It's a gutting of the protection we have for the Sierra forests,'' said Susannah Churchill, preservation advocate for Environment California, one of many environmental groups in the state that attacked the plan.
Environmental groups may consider a legal challenge, Churchill said.
The new rules are a significant and controversial revision of the landmark 2001 ``Sierra Nevada Framework,'' an environmental plan for the state's national forest lands. Written under the Clinton administration, that plan was supported by environmentalists for its emphasis on wildlife preservation and recreation.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he opposes changes to the plan.
Thursday, after the announcement, state Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman reaffirmed that stance and criticized the Forest Service for having ``little substantive discussion with the state'' on the new rules.
The agency will review the new rules and ``we'll be expressing our concerns to the Forest Service,'' Chrisman said.
``This is not an issue about logging,'' said David Bischel, president of the California Forestry Association. ``This is an issue about doing what's right for the forests, creating healthy forests that are resilient to fires and creating communities safe from fires.''
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