Free Republic

The dusky gopher frog is a critter that can be found in certain areas of Mississippi — and nowhere else. Yet the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to “protect” the dusky gopher frog by using the Endangered Species Act to designate a 1,500-acre tract of private forestry land in Louisiana as “critical habitat necessary for the species’ survival,” even though the land is not inhabited by the frog, and is in fact unsuitable for the species. Naturally, the owners objected — the economic hit would have been up to $34 million, though the FWS refused to take that into...

SEATTLE - A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday to stop Weyerhaeuser Co. from logging in spotted owl habitat on four parcels of private land in Washington. U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman did not grant, however, an additional request by the Seattle Audubon Society to stop the state of Washington from granting permits to log in spotted owl habitat. The injunction from logging covers spotted owl habitat within 2.7 miles of the center of four circles of land in southwestern Washington that are owned by Weyerhaeuser. "It really shows the Endangered Species Act still has some teeth in...

Gun-toting, tough-talking, and anti-establishment to his muddy boot straps, Larry Mullens is an Oklahoman "good ole boy" personified. He is also fast becoming a classic American folk hero as he takes centre stage in a revolt of gun owners that is reverberating in boardrooms across the United States. The son of one of the last of the old-style Wild West ranchers, he first fired a gun as a boy. Now he carries his trusty Winchester in his pick-up on his way to work at a sawmill in case he comes across a coyote, a wild dog or even a wolf...

SALEM - Grant Wheeler wants to add a second shift to his Reedsport hardwood sawmill, his Westwood Lumber Co. remanufacturing plant in Junction City and his planing mill in Saginaw. But a shortage of the alder sawlogs that Wheeler converts into Fender guitar bodies, Purdy paintbrush blanks and parts for kitchen cabinets will keep employment at the three facilities hovering at 135 workers. At least in the short term. "If I had more logs, I would add more employees," Wheeler said. "The market is there." To get those logs, Wheeler and other independent sawmill operators are taking the unusual route...

MADISON, Ga., Aug. 4 -- Soaring property taxes and increasing debt have forced giant timber companies to put millions of acres of timberland up for sale across the South. The Georgia office of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Development Co. plans to sell roughly 30,000 acres in Morgan, Putnam and Oconee counties for more than $3,000 an acre. The company also announced plans to sell 174,000 acres in Tennessee and 170,000 in the Carolinas.SNIP Giant timber companies are selling forest land as they try to cut costs to offset mergers and operational changes. Larger tracts and corporate lands also are taxed at...

Forest Plan Involves Timber Co. Contracts Sat Mar 8, 8:53 AM ET By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is confident it has found a novel, inexpensive way to clear overgrown forests and prevent catastrophic wildfires. Critics say it's a blatant giveaway to timber companies. The plan, approved last month as part of a giant spending bill, allows logging companies to cut large, commercially valuable trees in national forests in exchange for clearing smaller, more fire-prone trees and brush. Known as "stewardship contracting," the approach allows the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (news...