Bosworth rejects appeals of Sierra Nevada management plan, lawsuit likely, Greenwire

[Forwarded by the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign]

Dan Berman, Greenwire reporter

11/19/04

Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth yesterday rejected appeals of the management plan for 11.5 million acres of national forest in California 's Sierra Nevada , prompting threats of litigation from environmental groups and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D).

Bosworth's ruling leaves in place the Forest Service's plan to log 115,000 acres of Sierra Nevada forest annually to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. Over 6,200 appeals were filed with the agency, and critics say the plan if implemented will unduly threaten old-growth stands and California spotted owl habitat.

The Forest Service says thinning is necessary to avoid a replay of the October 2003 Southern California wildfires in areas with similar conditions like the San Bernardino National Forest . The plan will reduce by 30 percent the acreage burned by wildfires in the 11 national forests over the next 50 years and double the acres of large old-growth trees over that time, according to the Forest Service (Greenwire, Jan. 23).

"Chief Bosworth's decision to uphold this plan reinforces this administration's belief that active management, as prescribed by the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, is the key to vibrant forests," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.).

"It's time to get moving," said Dave Bischel of the California Forestry Association. "We don't want these forests to get burned up by fire, eaten up by insects or killed off by disease."

But quick implementation of the plan is unlikely given threats of litigation from Lockyer and environmental groups. Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar said the attorney general's office is reviewing Bosworth's ruling and noted Lockyer has said a lawsuit was possible if his appeal was rejected. "The attorney general's made it very clear, and the record shows he would aggressively protect the forest resources of the state," Dresslar said.

Earthjustice attorney Greg Loarie and Craig Thomas, director of the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, said they will begin preparing suits against the Forest Service. A suit is likely to come this winter in a California federal court.

"There's no other option left," Thomas said. "After 10 years of cooperation and getting a sound plan in place at the end of the Clinton administration, we've seen that plan gutted."

The January 2004 plan replaced the 2001 Sierra Nevada Framework that was the result of a contentious decade of negotiations and widely embraced by environmentalists. The 2001 framework was designed to protect old-growth stands and habitats for the California spotted owl, Pacific fisher, Yosemite toad, frogs, willow flycatcher, northern goshawk and other species. The Forest Service says 96 percent of the 1,321 protected acres for the California spotted owl will be maintained with the new plan, however, the plan also calls for reducing forest canopy in old-growth stands from 80 percent to 50 percent.

"The 2001 Framework was a balanced plan that represented over a decade of work by diverse stakeholders," said former Agriculture Undersecretary Jim Lyons. "It is unfortunate that many of the concerns raised by the agency's own science consistency review team were not addressed in the appeals process."

In his ruling, Bosworth said that predicting species viability for the California spotted owl, the Pacific fisher and the American marten is uncertain given the lack of information of the effects of probable management practices in the plan. However, Bosworth said he believes the adaptive management program designed by the agency can adequately address risks posed to those species.

The final plan has been marred by controversy since it was unveiled in January. Aside from the particulars of the plan itself, critics blasted the Forest Service's promotional campaign entitled "Forests with a Future," especially after it was revealed the agency hired an outside public relations firm, OneWorld Communications of San Francisco, to design and promote the plan. In September, the Government Accountability Office determined agency employees broke no laws in hiring OneWorld (Greenwire, Sept. 14).

IV. Calif. to Sue Over Sierra Nevada Logging Expansion, Reuters

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=1&u=/nm/environment_california_dc

[Forwarded by EarthJustice]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California plans to sue the Bush administration over its plans to expand significantly the amount of logging allowed in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the state's Democratic attorney general said on Friday.

On Thursday, the head of the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service affirmed a plan announced in January that would allow four times more wood to be harvested from the Sierra Nevada than in 2001. The approval to permit logging of 700,000 acres over the next 20 years was described as a move to curb wildfires.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said that if the plan is not changed before becoming final in two weeks, he would appeal to a federal court.

"We will not let stand this betrayal of treasured forests and the public trust," he said in a statement. "With this action, the Bush administration maintains its full-speed retreat from environmental protection."

Lockyer said the plan would violate U.S. environmental protection laws -- an assessment at odds with a statement by Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth on Thursday.

"After reviewing the appeals, I have found that the Pacific Southwest region complied with all applicable laws, regulations and policies in amending the 2001 plan," Bosworth said.

The Sierra Nevada region spans 400 miles along the eastern edge of California and is home to black bears, Bighorn sheep and sequoia, pine, and aspen trees.

Late last year, President Bush signed a law aimed at reducing the risk of wildfires in federal forests although environmentalists call it a giveaway to the timber industry.