Easing of Northwest Logging Rules Blocked

[Eugene]

Easing of Northwest Logging Rules Blocked


Tuesday August 2, 2005 10:46 PM

By GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press Writer

SEATTLE (AP) - A federal judge struck down a move by the Bush
administration to ease logging restrictions in the Northwest,
saying the government failed to consider the effect on rare plants
and animals.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said in her ruling Monday that
under federal law, authorities had an obligation to show why the
logging restrictions should be changed.

The rule change, which took effect in the spring of 2004, said
forest managers no longer had to look for rare species before logging.
Instead, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management
were to use information provided by state officials in Washington,
Oregon and California in determining whether to allow logging,
prescribed burns, and trail- or campground-building.

A coalition of environmental groups sued to stop the change, saying
it would double logging on federal land in the region and have
disastrous consequences for rare species.

The change applied to 5.5 million acres of old-growth and other
forests in the Northwest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5185303,00.html