Logging fears as Bush eases forestry laws
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
24 December 2004
President George Bush's administration has issued new rules for a
looser, more corporate-style management of US forests, something
critics say will lead to more logging and other economic activity, and
weaken protection for dozens of already endangered species.
In essence the regulations - the most sweeping overhaul of forest
management in almost three decades - will give local forest supervisors
more freedom to react to events. They could range from fire problems
and invasive new species, to requests for logging or recreation
permits. Supporters claim the new system will speed up decision-making,
cut costs, and bring the US into line with much of the rest of the
developed world. It will make sure some of America's most beautiful
wilderness areas are run by people on the spot who know them best, they
argue, rather than by a cumbersome, remote bureaucracy.
But environmentalists complain that the scheme is yet another example
of the White House pandering to big business. "This rips the guts out
of national forest management plans," a spokesman for the Natural
Resources Defence Council said. "It doesn't ensure the necessary
resources."
The 155 US national forests cover some 300,000 sq miles, more than
three times the area of the UK. Largely concentrated in the Rocky
Mountains and the west, they are governed by the 1976 National Forest
Management Act.
That measure put the priority on preserving the ecological health of
forests and protecting endangered species. It set the stage for
confrontations such as the decades-long controversy over the northern
spotted owl, pitting conservationists against the lumber industry in
the Pacific north-west.
In recent years, competing pressures on forests have - if anything -
increased. Not only does the timber industry want greater access. The
forests are a growing tourist attraction, with the number of visitors
doubling in the past eight years. On the other hand, a quarter of all
US species facing extinction live in national forests, according to the
NatureServe conservationist group.
The new rules extend to environmental management, a system that has
gained favour in industry, and has the enthusiastic support of this
Republican White House. Instead of conforming to rigid and centralised
environmental rules, companies are encouraged to set their own
standards. The results are judged by outside auditors.
In this case the outside judges could be officials of the National
Forest Service, or outside environmentalist or economic groups. But it
is not clear what powers they would have, or even what standards would
be enforced.
The new policy has enraged environmentalists, not least because of the
timing of the announcement, just two days before Christmas when
Congress is not in session, and news coverage will be scant.
Democrats expressed outrage too. "These regulations cut the public out
of the forest planning process," Congressman Tom Udall of New Mexico
declared. "They will just inspire lawsuits and provide less protection
for wildlife."
Tom Harkin, a senior Democrat, said the new policy threatened to
"derail decades of progress" in preserving America's forests.
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