SIERRA LOGGING TO DOUBLE: The LA Times reports 8/21, that after 6 years of negotiations, congressional and presidential authorization, and extensive public testimony, three-quarters of which favored protection, the Forest Service has released its Quincy Plan to double logging on 2.4 million acres of Northern California national forests. Environmental groups immediately attacked the plan as politically expedient with "no science to justify it." They estimate that the plan will require 100 miles of new roads and would "undoubtedly result in significant environmental damage to rivers, streams, wildlife and its habitat."

BLACKWATER TO BE SURVEYED FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES: A federal court has forced Allegheny Wood Products to allow a first-ever survey of threatened and endangered species in the Blackwater Canyon, WV, according to the Charleston Gazette 8/22. The company, which blocked the survey for 2 years, has already logged 1,600 of the 3,000 acres in the canyon. According to the environmental groups who filed the lawsuit, "This is the first of many steps which will prove our allegations that the company's actions have and will violate the Endangered Species Act."

CA SEA OTTERS DECLINE: An 8/22 CNN story finds "the number of California sea otters has declined 12 percent since 1995, with just over 2,000 remaining." With the remaining population tightly concentrated along the coast from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, "one large oil spill could wipe out the entire population."

COUNCIL CALLS FOR MARINE BIORESERVES: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has called for the creation of bioreserves where no fish or other organisms could be taken, according to the Sun Herald 8/19. Such reserves would allow for the replenishment of stocks in over-fished areas, provide important habitat protection and increase biodiversity. The Council is seeking public comments on creation of the bioreserves and can be reached at their website www.gulfcouncil.org/.

PRONGHORNS REBOUND: The Oregonian 8/19 reports that high fawn survival rates have boosted the antelope herd on the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge to 1,378, up from 882 last summer. When numbers dropped after a peak of 1,993 in 1990, refuge officials began trying to institute aerial and public hunts to control predators, mainly coyotes. Some wildlife biologists and environmentalists contend that predator control programs are a mistake, arguing that "antelope numbers naturally fluctuate and that predation is seldom a dominant factor defining herd size."

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