PRESENT ISSUES IN
FORESTRY AND TIMBER LAW

MORATORIUM PLACED ON CONSTRUCTION OF NEW LOGGING ROADS IN NATIONAL FORESTS

October 13, 1999

By: Mark C. Poloncarz, Attorney At Law

On Wednesday, October 13, 1999, President Clinton announced a plan to permanently protect approximately 40 million acres of national forest land. Through the creation of a new category of wilderness area, the President is attempting to prevent the building of roads through what are primarily pristine, remote areas of the following forest areas: the North Fork of the American River in California, the Pagoda Peak area in Colorado, and the South Quinanlt Ridge in the Olympic National Forest in Washington. By preventing the building of new roads, the Clinton Administration will be all but preventing the future harvest of timber from these areas.

The President, through this initiative, is partially circumventing Congressional power to oversee the National forests. Roughly 34 million acres of land have been designated as "wilderness areas" by Congress. Development in these areas is prevented. The President cannot expand these areas without Congressional approval. By creating a new category of area, one that does not require Congressional oversight, the President is in effect expanding the un-developable areas of the nation's forests. This plan will replace the temporary road building moratorium issued by the Administration during the past year.

The Tongass National Forest in Alaska may be included in the plan in the future. The Clinton Administration, through the Forest Service, will be soliciting comments from the public on whether the Alaskan forest should be included in the plan. Alaskan Senators Ted Stevens, and Frank Murkowski, as well as Comgressman Don Young, all Republicans, oppose the application of the plan to the Tongass forest.

While environmental groups were generally pleased with the proposal, most wanted to see if the Tongass Forest would eventually be included. Carl Ross, the executive director of Save America's Forests, stated that "it's simply premature to say that this is a great thing. All he's (the President) doing is setting in motion a study, which may or may not lead to more protection in the end." Matt Zencey, a spokesman for the Alaska Rainforest Campaign, noted that "this could be one of the greatest environmental protection measures in the country's history, but it has to include Tongass... ."

As expected, the timber and logging industry criticized the plan. W. Henson Moore, president of the American Forest & Paper Association, noted that "there's a tremendous state of frustration in our industry," and that the President's plan was, in effect, "an extremist form of preservation."

While it remains to be seen whether the Tongass forest will be included in the plan, even without Tongass included the Administration's plan will certainly be a major topic of discussion in the forest world for some time to come.

Previously, on Thursday, February 11, 1999, the Clinton administration imposed an 18 month moratorium on all road building in undeveloped areas of the national forests. The net effect of the action is that of the approximately 192 million acres of publicly owned land set aside as national forests, road construction will be prohibited in 33 million acres of national forests, at least through the year 2001.

As expected, both conservationists and timber industry members criticized the proposal. Conservationists complained that the moratorium failed to go far enough in protecting pristine forests. The administration exempted over 20 million acres of undeveloped forested land from the moratorium, and the lands which were included are comprised mostly of tracts of 5,000 acres or more of land. Brian Vincent, a spokesman for the conservationist organization American Forests, noted that various smaller tract "areas in the Sierra Nevada deserving protection will not be spared from logging and road building."

Timber industry spokesman were highly critical of the ban. W. Henson Moore, chief executive officer of the American Forest Products Association, stated that the administration's "long term vision is to accede to the extremists, which is basically to get everyone out of the forest." Additionally, states which depend on the timber industry have reactive negatively to the plan. Idaho Senator Larry Craig (Rep.) said that the moratorium "has been widely unpopular and (has) severely disrupted Idaho's rural communities."

The moratorium is just the first step in the federal government's comprehensive review of its policies toward national forests. It is anticipated that the Clinton administration will examine the effect of such a construction ban on other areas, including those forests which have seen substantial development in the past. However, it is unlikely that an expansion of the ban will be approved in the near future.

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