Press Release | Contact: Kristie Greco (202) 225-6416
WASHINGTON, DC—Citing continued controversy over forest policy in the Northwest, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) today pronounced the Clinton Administration's Northwest forest plan a failure and called on the Departments of Agriculture and Interior to develop an alternative management plan.
"The Clinton plan is a failure," DeFazio stated. "It was supposed to resolve the conflicts over forest policy in the Northwest and it hasn't. The current plan depends on large volumes of old growth timber cuts which are a major point of controversy and at the same time has failed to deliver the reliable levels of timber harvest we were promised. The plan is woefully underfunded, it doesn't address the Forest Service's deteriorating transportation infrastructure and did not provide adequate funding for rural communities and displaced workers.. It's time for an overhaul that will develop a long term plan to resolve these conflicts."
Calling the original Northwest forest plan a "closed-door process," a "patchwork of older management schemes" based on "educated guesswork" rather than solid science, DeFazio urged Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and Department of Interior Bruce Babbitt to acknowledge the shortcomings of the current plan and begin a vigorous review.
DeFazio pointed to the ongoing controversies over forest policy as evidence that the Clinton plan has failed and needs to be revamped. Last year, a federal judge ordered another halt to multiple timber sales in the Northwest based on the Forest Service's failure to adequately survey the land for sensitive species. Annually, a debate erupts in Congress over the building of logging roads in national forests. The Clinton Administration recently unveiled a controversial new roadless areas policy which faces strong opposition in Congress. DeFazio stated that continuing the status quo will only result in "continued political strife, the potential for renewed litigation and increasing public dissatisfaction with the...plan."
DeFazio has long criticized the secretive process that created the Administration's Northwest forest plan for ignoring many proposed options. For example, DeFazio proposed his own forest management plan in 1993 that would have maintained old growth areas and still provide enough harvest to maintain stable timber production. In his letter, DeFazio suggested Glickman revisit his ideas in formulating a new management plan.
"I believe the time has come to initiate a thorough administration reassessment of the Northwest forest plan, with consideration given to a management program resembling the one I proposed six years ago" DeFazio said.
(a copy of DeFazio's letter follows)