For Immediate Release:
November 18, 2004
Contact:
Craig Thomas, Sierra Forest Legacy / 530-622-8718
Julie Dixon, Resource Media / 916-446-1058
Forest Service to Increase Logging of Sierra National Forests
Agency Announces Decision to Reverse Forest Protections
Sacramento -- The US Forest Service announced today that it would move forward with plans to implement controversial revisions to the Sierra Nevada Framework. The revisions will dramatically increase logging, weaken clean water protections and jeopardize wildlife in eleven Sierra Nevada national forests.
"The 2001 Framework was a balanced plan that represented over a decade of work by diverse stakeholders," said Jim Lyons, former USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment and key architect of the original Framework. "It is unfortunate that many of the concerns raised by the agency's own science consistency review team were not addressed in the appeals process."
According to a scientific review team appointed by the Forest Service, the 2004 revisions failed to consider key scientific information regarding fire, impacts on forest health, and at-risk wildlife. In addition, critics say the new plan actually decreases the level of protection to homes and communities, focusing instead on logging large trees in remote areas.
“This decision disregards important scientific review and years of research by concentrating on cutting large, marketable trees instead of the dangerous small fuels that feed fires," said Dr. Norm Christensen, Professor of Ecology and Founding Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University.
The original Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment was adopted in January 2001 to direct the management of 11.5 million acres of California's national forest lands. The plan was widely praised as a model of cooperation between scientists, business leaders, and conservationists. The original Framework was never implemented, and in January 2004 the Forest Service revised the plan to triple the amount of logging and limit protections for forests, water and wildlife throughout the Sierra.
"This decision turns back the clock on forest management in the Sierra Nevada to the old days of 'get out the cut,' ignoring all we have learned about how to protect our communities from fire and restore our native wildlife," said Greg Loarie an attorney for Earthjustice. "An era of goodwill and consensus has been thrown out the window today; thankfully, we still have the courts to ensure that our forests are managed responsibly."
According to Craig Thomas, director of the Sierra Forest Legacy and a Sierra resident, "This decision reverses more than ten years of work by dedicated scientists, community leaders and all of us who care about the long-term health of the Sierra. It's a sad day for California's national forests."