🚀 go-pugleaf

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SIERRA NEVADA CUT UP 80 PERCENT?  

     The Forest Service announced Aug. 19 that it will consider increasing
logging in California's Sierra Nevada's by 80 percent, but this decision was
quickly reversed by the Clinton Administration.  The proposal encountered
serious opposition from environmental groups.  The FS proposal would allow
the cutting of old growth trees under 40 inches in diameter, a significant
weakening of current standards which allow logging for trees only under 30
inches in diameter.  

     The proposal would abandon aspects of the Northwest Forest Plan
related to the conservation of Sierra forests.  Studies have shown that only 15
percent of the Sierra forests are intact and that Spotted Owls are steadily
declining at a rate of five percent per year due to the current rate of habitat
loss.  R.J. Gutierrez, a Humbolt State University wildlife biologist studying
owls under Forest Service contract said,  "I can see no scientific justification
for cutting more trees, especially large trees."  Jerry Franklin of the
University of Washington says "I have seen no indication that they have a
strategy explicitly identifying old growth reserves and showing how they
intend to keep them intact."  The recently release Sierra Nevada Ecosystem
Assessment concluded that old growth reserves are needed to protect and
maintain the Ancient Forest ecosystem of the Sierra Nevada.  The report also
indicated that a variety of plants and animals in the region were in danger of
extinction, and cited heavy logging as the main culprit.  Timber industry
spokesmen praised the Forest Service plan.