On November 13, Clinton administration officials released an almost-final draft of their roadless area protection plan. This latest version would ban road-building and logging on 58.5 million acres of national forest land.

The first draft of the plan (FM Jan/Feb 2000) called for prohibiting road building in designated roadless areas, but would have allowed logging if it could be carried out without road construction. In another major alteration from the original plan, officials have included the Tongass National Forest in the latest draft, after hundreds of thousands of Americans urged them to do so.

The current plan would ban road-building, mining and timber cutting in designated roadless areas. Some loopholes remain, however, including provisions that would allow road construction or logging that is done for "stewardship" purposes. Other loopholes would allow logging if managers determine it would reduce fire hazards or if the logging helps improve endangered species habitat. No commercial logging would be allowed.

The timber industry claims the policy would result in neglected forests, unchecked wildfires and massive insect infestations. They are hoping that an upcoming Republican administration will loosen the policy’s restrictions.

According to U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck, building fewer roads will free up resources to maintain existing roads. Dombeck also says the roadless policy will enable the Forest Service to concentrate on reducing fire hazards in areas where forests border communities and to devote more resources to restoring forest health.

Environmentalists have voiced concerns about the plan’s loopholes. They also worry that the hastily implemented policy could be vulnerable to legal challenges after Clinton leaves office.

The administration is expected to issue its final ruling on the roadless plan in mid-December. The policy would be put into effect on 49 million acres in mid-February. The largely timber-dependant communities of Southeast Alaska would have three years to adjust before the policy takes effect on 9.5 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in 2004.

— Kate Heim

The U.S. Forest Service has given the manufacturer of fire retardant four years to remove a poisonous chemical from its mix (FM, July/Aug 2000). The chemical, sodium ferrocyanide, is an anticorrosive used to protect the insides of tanker planes that drop retardant on difficult-to-access wildfires. Exposure to sunlight causes the chemical to break down into pure cyanide, with levels of the poison high enough to kill fish and other aquatic life.

Under current regulations, the retardant is not supposed to be dropped within 300 feet of a water source-a restriction that Forest Service officials say makes the retardant safe to use. But when the wind is strong or if it shifts, that can be difficult to control.

Some critics have said use of the retardant should be stopped immediately. Fire-Trol, the company that makes the retardant, is largely dependant on government contracts. Company officials say they are scrambling to find a replacement chemical in time to complete two years of testing and meet the deadline. Canadian Fire officials have also asked Fire-Trol to find less toxic solutions, but have not set a deadline.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Geological Survey has begun studies to determine how much of the cyanide is still in the environment and what effects it has had on aquatic life.

— Kate Heim

Continued conflict over a partially washed-out road in Elko County, Nevada, keeps tensions and legal fees high. In the latest twist, lawyers with the U.S. Justice Department have asked a judge to expedite the federal government’s request to close the road to motorized vehicles in order to curb continuing harm to the imperiled bull trout.

The remote dirt road into a canyon near the town of Jarbidge, which was damaged by floodwaters five years ago, has been the focus of several U.S. Forest Service studies and a continuing source of tension between the government agency and area citizens (FM, Jan/Feb 2000.) The Forest Service wants to close the road permanently to protect bull trout habitat, while local residents want it reopened.

In July, hundreds of protesters formed a work party and removed roadblocks that had been constructed by the Forest Service. The protesters say the road was built before the Humboldt National Forest was established and therefore it is county property, outside Forest Service jurisdiction. In negotiations early this year, federal officials proposed a settlement that would direct the Forest Service to find alternate means of assuring public access to areas served by the road. Elko County officials have not yet responded to the settlement offer.

— Kate Heim

U.S. Forest Service employees in northeast Nevada face "difficult work and living situations," according to a report released by the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters. A five-member team of Forest Service investigators has completed an investigation into allegations that agency employees face hostile working conditions in the state, in the wake of the resignation of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Supervisor Gloria Flora. Although working conditions in most of the state are fine for Forest Service employees, the report says, that's not the case in northeast Nevada, "where most employees view the work environment as unusual and antagonistic."

The report found no evidence of any harassment worthy of criminal prosecution. But Forest Service employees in that part of the state described an abundance of confrontational incidents, ranging from an elementary school teacher berating the agency in class to being refused service in retail establishments. Flora resigned in November, saying " the level of anti-federal fervor is simply not acceptable." The Forest Service is at odds with some residents of remote Elko County over the fate of a mile-and-a-half stretch of dead-end road that washed out five years ago. The agency says it cannot rebuild the road without harming the southernmost population of imperiled bull trout, which live in the Jarbidge River. Local residents want the road rebuilt.

See " Rebels Roust a Forester" January/February 2000

Proposed restrictions that would govern logging in the state of Washington for the next 50 years are too weak to prevent the Pacific salmon from sliding closer to extinction, according to a study by a team of independent scientists.

The ecologists' report, put out by the American Fisheries Society and the Northwest Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration, says the new rules don't do enough to protect streams from erosion caused by logging. The cumulative effect of the new rules "will be a decreased likelihood of survival for threatened" salmon, the ecologists say.

Washington Lands Commissioner Jennifer Belcher said the study will be taken into consideration as the board in coming months weighs whether to make the logging restrictions permanent. Peter Heide of the Washington Forest Protection Association, a coalition of companies that own private forest land, said the new rules were put together over a two-year period and are based on "good science." Environmentalists have blasted the new logging rules as a sellout to timber interests.

"If government sets aside good science and chooses to make deals for political reasons, then they had better not tell the public (the rules) are justified by good science. The public has a right to know," said Becky Kelley of the Washington Environmental Council.

See " Timber Industry 1, Salmon 0" January/February 2000

A 25,000-acre forested wildland in north-central Washington that had been targeted by the timber industry has received permanent protection.

In early January, the state Board of Natural Resources voted 6-0 to accept $16.5 million that had been raised by citizens to buy the Loomis Forest, one of Washington's largest remaining roadless areas and home to the healthiest population of Canadian lynx in the lower 48.

The board, which normally manages state trust lands under its jurisdiction for logging, will manage the Loomis as a wilderness. It will use the Loomis money to buy land elsewhere for logging. Timber revenues from state trust land in Washington go toward school construction.

The Loomis Forest preservation campaign, a hard-fought, two-year effort, was featured in the November-December issue of Forest Magazine. It almost faltered last fall when the board raised the purchase price by $3.4 million following a new appraisal of the forest's value. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen came to the rescue, covering the increase in one of the largest environmental donations in memory.

About 6,000 people statewide donated $13.1 million to buy the Loomis, which is adjacent to the Okanogan National Forest.

See " Private Dollars For Public Values" November/December 1999