Agriculture chief upholds management plan for 11.5 million acres of Sierra

The Sierra Times ^ | 27 December, 2001 | JIM WASSERMAN Associated Press Writer

[brityank]

Agriculture chief upholds management plan
for 11.5 million acres of Sierra

By JIM WASSERMAN Associated Press Writer 12.27.01

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Bush administration announced support Thursday for a Clinton-era management plan that giving a new environmental tilt to managing 11.5 million acres of national forest in the Sierra Nevada.

U.S. Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, upheld earlier agency decisions that rejected appeals by loggers, ski resorts and off-road groups hoping to kill the plan.

"The plan is a final agency decision which is now being implemented," Rey said.

The management plan, formally called the Sierra Nevada Framework, shifts the Forest Service's emphasis from logging old-growth forests to protecting them on 4 million acres. It also bans logging on most trees larger than 20 inches, while limiting logging in a 460-mile stretch of California and Nevada to levels one-tenth those reached during the Reagan administration in the 1980s.

California Forestry Association President David Bischel called Rey's ruling the "worst decision they could have made" and one that will "add to the risk of catastrophic wildfire."

His and other opposition groups may take their cases to court. More work remains on the plan, Rey said, and he asked supporters and opponents to delay legal action until they see the results.

Forest service officials, after nine years crafting a management vision that began aiming to protect the endangered spotted owl, are now working on revisions to better prevent destructive wildfires. Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Jack Blackwell will announce a so-called "action plan" early next week, officials said.

Environmentalists fear those might be a backdoor way to accomplish more logging in the nation's longest unbroken mountain range.

Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist, declined to offer details on the action plan, saying it will be announced soon.

But environmental spokesmen had nothing but praise for Rey's decision not to throw out the Sierra Nevada Framework.

"Today the sun is shining on California's Range of Light," said Jay Watson, regional director of the Wilderness Society.

Craig Thomas, spokesman for the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, agreed, saying, "I think California is leading the way in terms of this agency bringing its credibility back."

Bob Roberts, director of California Snow, a group of Sierra Nevada ski resorts, said Rey should have scrapped the plan.

Ski resorts won't be able to add new lifts if they can't remove trees larger than 20 inches in diameter, Roberts said, which makes him "feel recreations has been a casualty of the process."

© 2002 SierraTimes.com

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up! Happy New Year!

[Carry_Okie]

So what makes your opinions superior?

Read this and tell me where else you have seen experts representing such divergent interests agreeing about anything.

[Snow Bunny]

You got that right my wonderful friend.

[SierraWasp]

STOP THE PRESSES!

RE-PING THE LIST!!!

Here's an INTERESTING up-date from today's Sacramento Bee Ess on "THE SIERRA NEVADA FRAME-UP!"

The difference in Quotes from local Enviral Whacko Craig Thomas, IS ENCOURAGING!!!

Hopeful shift by the Bush Administration!

Brityank, please ping everyone again so they can get their chins up off their chests a little. Oh, teenager won't like this and I enjoy hearing his squeal get "clear-cut!"

[Carry_Okie]

Isn't that the same as this thread? Am I guilty of improper pinging?

[Ben Ficklin]

See reply # 21 above

[SierraWasp]

You mean like this one is reversing himself?

Craig Thomas, spokesman for the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, agreed, saying, "I think California is leading the way in terms of this agency bringing its credibility back." Then read his quote in the second article Brityank posted at the beginning of this thread... THEN READ HIS QUOTE IN WHAT I JUST LINKED, ABOVE! (Just like COB1 said!!!)

[expose]

its all U.N

[MaeWest]

.....environmentalists remained bitter Monday that administration officials first affirmed the framework and then called for a yearlong review. One said a lawsuit was inevitable if the agency follows its current path.

Yeeeeeeesssss!!
Thank you SierraWasp!!!

[SierraWasp]

NO!!! The quote from Craig Thomas and other takes are different, plus it's from the BEE not AP!

[SierraWasp]

Ain't it purdy? "W's" people are being appropriately sneaky, thank the Lord for little favors!!!

[Carry_Okie]

I'm still not sure where you are coming from.

At last, signs of intelligent life. Try reading the first chapter and get back to me.

[SierraWasp]

"Isn't that the same as this thread? Am I guilty of improper pinging?"

He!! NO!!! This shows the whole thing is up in the air for at least a year, plus the licentious litigators are gonna sue, like the allegators that they are!!!

I hope you guys didn't send everybody to bed depressed on the first day of the NEW YEAR!!!

WAKE 'EM BACK UP! WE WON AT LEAST A STAY OF EXECUTION!!!

[SierraWasp]

Hey! The disappointment is over! The Bush Administration has STUNG 'EM!!!

[Carry_Okie]

Keep yer venom in yer denim!!!
They ain't DONE nothin yet.

[B4Ranch]

Have you been celebrating the New Years a bit too much? Logic seems to have disappeared from your comments.

[farmfriend]

Having read Carry_Okie's book (in-part) and actively working for an organization that fights environmental crap, I can tell you that there is a lot of wisdom in Natural Process. The research that went into this book should qualify him for a degree. The intellegence behind the writing is plain to see for anyone who bothers to read it. If you are in the timber industry, this is the book for you since the basic precepts are built around the timber industry. Of course the concepts espoused will work for any environment, not just timber.