Senators Grill Forest Service
Over Foot-Dragging On Lawsuit

(Editor's note: This subject doesn't directly impact livestock producers, but a similar situation exists with respect to grazing decisions languishing in the hands of federal bureaucrats. For years, federal agencies have colluded with environmental activists to invite lawsuits challenging their handling of natural resource issues, then rolled over and agreed to limit the use of those resources. It was a clever way to freeze out productive enterprise and lock away vast amounts of land, all without Congressional approval. That practice has accelerated demonstrably under the Clinton regime, but the following story suggests that some in Congress are finally running out of patience.)

WASHINGTON —(AP)— Senators sharply criticized the Forest Service earlier this month for failing to adequately conduct surveys of rare species in the Pacific Northwest, causing dozens of timber sales to be put on hold.

The senators — all from the Pacific Northwest — lamented the suffering in some rural communities that resulted from what they termed agency bungling.

And they blamed the Forest Service for damaging the Northwest Forest Plan, which governs federal forest use in the region.

``This senator is pretty exasperated,'' Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said at a hearing of a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee panel.

Noting that Agriculture Undersecretary Jim Lyons, who oversees the Forest Service, couldn't attend the hearing because his basement was flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Floyd, Wyden said the forest plan ``is taking on water, too, because Mr. Lyons hasn't followed through on his obligations.''

Wyden said that ``unless changes are made very, very quickly, you all are going to make it impossible for the plan to survive.''

The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, a Clinton administration document written in the wake of fights over the officially "threatened" northern spotted owl, broadly dictates the level of logging and other activities on 24 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land in western Washington, western Oregon and northern California.

The plan is supposed to ensure environmental protections in the region while allowing a minimal level of logging.

One aspect of the plan requires agency officials to examine the levels of mollusks, lichens, fungi and other rare organisms in habitat areas to make sure that logging or road building won't harm the species.

But U.S. District Judge William Dwyer in Seattle found last month that the agencies had failed to carry out their survey obligations.

He put 217 million board feet of timber sales on hold — an amount equal to one-fourth of the total annual harvest allowed under the forest plan — until he makes a final decision on the matter, probably this fall.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by 13 environmental activist groups who contend the survey failures violated the forest plan.

At the hearing of the forests and public land management subcommittee, Sen. Slade Gorton called the forest plan a failure — economically, ecologically, educationally and environmentally.

He said many in the region are beginning to wonder whether the forest plan was simply a way to move toward further logging reductions. Gorton read a statement even though he is not a subcommittee member.

He said the lawsuit over surveys makes him wonder ``whether we are not heading toward an official no-cut policy.''

But agency officials countered that the forest plan remains the best way to balance social, economic and environmental values in the region.

``The Northwest Forest Plan remains sound,'' said Jim Furnish, the deputy chief for national forest systems.

The Forest Service by June plans to complete a plan to implement the survey requirements and comply with Dwyer's decision.

Meanwhile, Forest Service officials are continuing settlement talks with the plaintiffs in the survey lawsuit.

But Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said that even if the Forest Service completes a plan by June, appeals and lawsuits by environmental activistsists could tie up the plan for months or years.

He said it could be 2001 or 2002 before the halted logging continues. ``I'm not sure there's any relief in sight,'' Smith said.

Wyden faulted the Forest Service for a series of missteps, such as being slow to meet the survey requirements and failing to come up with a plan to quickly solve the survey predicament.

``I have rural Oregon communities that are flattened at this point,'' Wyden said.

While timber workers could get laid off because of the halted timber sales, agency bureaucrats will continue to draw paychecks.

``There's just no justice in that,'' Wyden said.

(Amen. — Ed.)