Bush proposes easing rules for small timber sales
Date: 06-Jan-03
Country: USA
Author: Christopher Doering
The U.S. Forest Service proposed reducing the amount of regulations necessary in small projects up to 250 acres in size if it required no more than a half-mile of temporary roads.
Requirements for timber sales would only be eased to allow the removal of trees that pose a danger to the public or where the infestation of insects could harm additional trees in the area.
"The proposed categories are about how we document our decisions regarding activities that are environmentally safe," Forest Chief Dale Bosworth said in a statement.
"Through these proposed categories, the agency hopes to reduce the bureaucratic red tape and save time, energy and money in preparing small, routine, projects that are supported by local communities," he said.
The proposed exemption for small projects could not be used in forest where endangered species live, wilderness areas, wetlands, inventoried roadless areas or historical sites.
A 2001 review by the Forest Service found that 154 projects would not have "significant" harm on the environment and should not require lengthy and financially costly documentation required by the National Environmental Protection Act.
The public will be allowed to comment on the new rule for 60 days once it is published in the Federal Register, the government's weekday diary.
Forest issues have been a hot issue recently between the Bush administration and environmental groups.
In November, the Forest Service unveiled a plan to give local forest managers greater control over recreational and commercial activities in U.S. forests, a policy opponents said skirts environmental rules designed to protect fish and wildlife habitat.
A range of other forest initiatives to prevent wildfires by making it easier to cut down the small trees and brush that fuels them have been introduced during the last year.
Many have been opposed by green groups who argue they favor logging companies eager to remove timber.
But environmental groups scored a major victory last month after a federal appeals court effectively reinstated a Clinton-era ban on road construction on nearly 60 million acres of forest land, overturning a preliminary injunction obtained by Boise Cascade Corp. and other groups last year.
The Clinton plan aims to prevent road construction and the removal of oil and lumber in 58.5 million acres (23.67 million hectares) of federal forest land, unless needed for environmental reasons or to reduce the risk of wildfires.