Environmental and government lawyers argued in federal court Tuesday about whether a recent change to the Northwest Forest Plan -- one that eased logging restrictions -- was properly arrived at and would provide adequate protections for trout and salmon.
SEATTLE — Environmental and government lawyers argued in federal court Tuesday about whether a recent change to the Northwest Forest Plan -- one that eased logging restrictions -- was properly arrived at and would provide adequate protections for trout and salmon.
The change was made in March 2004, when the Bush administration dropped wording from the forest plan that required certain projects to be evaluated for how they would affect their watershed before they could be approved. Environmental groups say that in making the change, the administration overruled the arguments of its own scientists to please the timber industry.
The result, Earthjustice lawyer Patti Goldman told U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler, is that "even in key watersheds, there are no standards that control logging or mining or roadbuilding or grazing or any other activities."
The industry had requested the change, arguing that loggers have not been allowed to cut as much as predicted under the Northwest Forest Plan -- a 1994 compromise between environmentalists who sought to protect threatened species such as the spotted owl, and loggers who sought to protect their livelihoods. The compromise was brokered by the Clinton administration and controlled logging on 24 million acres of federal lands in Washington, Oregon and Northern California.
Tuesday's 3 1/2 hours of arguments focused on part of the forest plan known as the Aquatic Conservation Strategy, which set out criteria for protecting watersheds. The courts interpreted the criteria to mean that before approving logging, roadbuilding or other projects, federal agencies must find that each will either maintain or improve watershed quality as described by the Aquatic Conservation Strategy. The logging held up by failure to meet those criteria was on 4 million acres designated for logging under the forest plan.
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In response, the Bush administration reworked the conservation strategy's language. While logging or roadbuilding that takes place in stream or lake corridors (known as "riparian reserves") is still restricted, now such work that takes place upland does not automatically have to clear any hurdles with regard to its effect on the watershed -- even though such logging can affect erosion and water quality.
Previously, projects that did not help improve watersheds -- such as by decommissioning more logging roads than they built -- could not proceed. Following the change, federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management may or may not allow such projects to proceed, depending on their own discretion.
"The only check is the goodwill of the agencies," Goldman said.
Government lawyer Ruth Ann Lowery told the judge that it was difficult if not impossible for any project to meet the old standard, leading to unreasonable restraints on logging and other activity.
"The harvest of timber is a legitimate and longstanding goal of the Northwest Forest Plan," she said. "There's nothing wrong with the agencies trying to fix their plan to make it implementable."
The goals of the Aquatic Conservation Strategy remain intact, and the government will continue to strive to meet them, Lowery said.
Goldman urged the judge to set aside the change to the Aquatic Conservation Strategy on the grounds that it was not properly arrived at. The U.S. Agriculture and Interior departments did not consider dissenting scientific opinion, including that within their own ranks, or potential alternatives or the effect of the change on protected salmon and bull trout, she said. Government lawyers denied her assertions.
Scott Horngren, a lawyer representing timber organizations intervening in the case, noted that many standards for logging and roadbuilding in the affected areas remain in place, such as rules governing how stream crossings and culverts are built. The Northwest Forest Plan anticipated the logging of 1 billion board-feet of timber a year -- down from 4.5 billion board-feet in the 1980s -- but in actuality the figure averaged 570 million board-feet over the next seven years, he said.
Theiler plans to issue a report on the case and a recommendation for a ruling to U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez, but did not indicate when she would do so.
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The case is 04-1299, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations v. National Marine Fisheries Service.
Source: Associated Press
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