The National Fire Plan, the Healthy Forests Initiative and
the Healthy Forests Restoration Act are explained and
compared
Items by Kathie Durbin
Loggers say forest-restoration work, which involves the
thinning and cutting of small, skinny trees, doesn’t bring in
much money
President Bush says the Healthy Forests Restoration Act
and Initiative were needed to fight wildfire, but several years
into the new rules, critics question whether the changes they
brought were helpful or even necessary
Despite angry environmentalists, rotting timber, and
unenthusiastic logging companies, the Bush administration is
determined to push logging on roadless land burned by the Biscuit
Fire in southwestern Oregon
The proposed salvage logging of the Biscuit Fire area in
Oregon’s Siskiyou Forest is one of the largest timber sales
in history, and critics say it’s not only ecologically
dangerous, but undermines the Roadless Rule
When President Clinton established Oregon’s
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument three years ago, he told the BLM
to study grazing impacts, but now funding for the study has been
cut, while grazing continues unabated
Oregon’s Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge is
thriving these days, but refuge managers are courting controversy
by trying to get permission to shoot coyotes from
airplanes
Despite the warnings of scientists who say it’s a
bad idea, the Bush administration is eager to log trees burned by
the Biscuit Fire in Oregon’s Siskiyou National
Forest
A three-story house being built on the rim of Washington's
Columbia River Gorge - in defiance of the National Columbia River
Gorge Scenic Area - has become a battleground between supporters of
the scenic act and property-rights advocates.
Evidence that coyotes are keeping the antelope population
down leads some to propose that the coyotes on Oregon's Hart
Mountain Refuge should be controlled by killing.
Zoologist David Dobkin believes that federal land managers
are closing their minds to his scientific research - especially
when his research indicts grazing.
Oregon's Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge seems to be
recovering now that cattle have been banned from it - but despite
the lush grasses, the antelope are still in decline.
In the Pacific Northwest, timber companies such as
Weyerhaeuser are enthusiastic about HCPs because of the spotted
owl.
Biologist Lorin Hicks of Plum Creek Timber Co. says that
the notorious logging company is now trying to do the right thing
for endangered species with the help of HCPs.
Some say the real problem with habitat conservation lies
in the government's unwillingness to really enforce the Endangered
Species Act.
The long-awaited draft of the Interior Columbia Basin
Ecosystem Management Project draws little but criticism from
environmentalists, loggers, Indian tribes and ranchers.
Heavy rain on clearcut hillsides in western Oregon is
blamed for floods and landslides that kill eight people.
Farmers lead the protest against Battle Mountain Gold
Company's open-pit mine in Washington's conservative Okanogan
County.
Aquatic biologist Steve Ralph recalls how he directed a
new stream-research program for the University of Washington -
until timber industry scientists objected and the project was
cancelled.
The University of Washington's innovative environmental
institute and other new forestry programs are clearcut by a
conservative dean.
Oregon State University rejects its one-time advocacy of
unsustainable forestry practices and begins to teach new
forestry.
Public hearings on the rewriting of the Endangered Species
Act stir up controversy among environmentalists and their
opponents.
Pessimism and anxiety mark the fourth Western Ancient
Forest Conference in Ashland, Ore.
The Option Nine forest plan may be sent back for revision
for more owl and salmon protection.
Wise-use movement clashes with environmentalists in
Joseph, Oregon.
A reporter tours the chemical agent disposal facility at
Tooele Army Depot in Utah.
An unusual group, the Applegate Partnership, tries to
build consensus among environmentalists and loggers in southern
Oregon.
The arrest of rancher Dwight Hammond for running cattle on
a wildlife refuge provokes a wise-use backlash in Oregon.
Restrictions on logging in spotted owl habitat lead to
increased cutting in the Eastside forests.
The Eastside Ecosystem Management Project seeks to plot a
future for the forests of the Interior Columbia Basin.
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