SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (SP) - WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994
By: Patricia Willens States News Service
Edition: Final Section: News Page: A20
WASHINGTON - Since the Clinton administration released its plan for Northwest forests, interest groups have been abuzz with action and reaction.
The management plan for old-growth forests released two weeks ago would cause about 9,500 people to lose their jobs, according to administration estimates, and it is this inherent tension between industry and natural resources that has forced old battle lines to resurface with a vengeance.
On one side of the debate, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America has released a poll stating that 91 percent of Northwest voters believe the federal forest management plan is ineffective and biased.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace has snagged its first meeting with new Forest Service chief Jack Ward Thomas. The environmental group is planning a "direct action" demonstration after tomorrow's meeting related to logging in Idaho's Cove-Mallard forest.
The administration's modified "Option 9" plan widens protection areas around streams and spotted owl nesting sites. It also increases the logging areas that would operate with serious restrictions imposed by the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.
About 4 million acres of forest would be open to logging, about 9 million acres would be limited access and 2.6 million acres would be off limits. Timber harvests under this new plan would be about 1.1 billion board feet per year instead of the average 4.5 billion board feet harvested in the 1980s.
Copyright © 1994, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer