#454: 09-17-96 - Landmark Agreement Returns Management of Northwest Timber Sales

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1996                        (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

LANDMARK AGREEMENT RETURNS MANAGEMENT OF NORTHWEST TIMBER SALE PROGRAM TO CLINTON ADMINISTRATION

Full Environmental Protections to be Applied to Timber Sales

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a landmark agreement reached today by the Clinton Administration and fifteen timber companies, forty-four Pacific Northwest old-growth timber sales will be replaced with alternative timber that meets all environmental laws, and is consistent with the President's Forest Plan. The agreement maintains the integrity of environmentally sensitive forest lands and helps assure timber industry jobs.

Today's agreement resolves a conflict created by the controversial Rescissions Act of 1995, which ordered the government to release certain timber sales regardless of the nation's environmental laws. Only timber sales which threatened the endangered Marbled Murrelet -- a rare sea bird -- were to be deferred.

"We are pleased to bring this chapter of the old-growth debate to a close, " said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. "This settlement reaffirms that the President's Northwest Forest Plan should be the framework for managing the forests of this region. With this behind us, we will be able to get back to an environmentally sound timber sale program."

Today's agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, partially settles an August 1995 timber industry lawsuit that sought to exempt the replacement sales from environmental protections, including requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act for studies on the environmental impact of the logging. The agreement now stipulates that all such protections will be applied.

"This settlement shows that environmental protection and jobs are compatible," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "We look forward to the expiration of the timber provisions in the Rescissions Act so that timber harvesting in the Pacific Northwest can proceed in an environmentally sound manner under the President's Forest Plan."

The alternative timber, whose location will be determined at a later date, totals about 176 million board feet -- enough timber to build more than 17,000 new homes. The timber will replace sales contracted in 1989 and 1990, but suspended in 1992 to protect the threatened Marbled Murrelet.

Some of the timber provisions of the Rescissions Act will expire October 1, 1996, with the remaining scheduled to expire December 31, 1996.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Forest Service will provide alternative timber to the companies over a three year period, from 1997 to 1999, allowing ample time to satisfy the terms of the sales in an environmentally responsible manner.

The original sales were for timber to be harvested from national forests in Washington and Oregon. In 1992, the sales were suspended after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added the Marbled Murrelet population in Washington, Oregon and California to the federal list of threatened species.

A list of the timber companies and the affected sales is attached ###

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