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Species survey cutbacks proposed By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management would no longer search for and protect rare species before logging as required by the Northwest Forest Plan under proposed changes. The two federal agencies on Friday released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement detailing a proposal to eliminate requirements to survey and manage species ranging from great gray owls to slugs and fungi. The rules - costing $25.9 million annually to implement in the short-term and $15.3 million per year after a decade - are preventing timber sales and forest health treatments such as wildfire fuels reduction, according to federal officials. Public comments are being sought and are due by Aug. 22. Currently, if rare species are found during surveys, project planners create protective buffer zones around habitat sites. The proposed changes could boost timber sales from 400 million board feet in 2002 to 765 million board feet on Forest Service and BLM land in western Oregon, western Washington and northwest California - the area covered by the Northwest Forest Plan. The plan predicted 805 million board feet per year would be sold, but annual sales consistently have lagged behind that number, according to federal officials. "Overall, we've done 60 percent of what we should be doing," said Dick Prather, survey and manage EIS team leader in the Forest Service's Portland regional office. "Our analysis on this EIS shows species protection can be similar under any of the alternatives." The document analyzes impacts of adopting the proposed change, maintaining current requirements to survey and manage for 304 species and 4 insect groups, or continuing to survey and manage for 278 species. According to the analysis, 47 species could be lost in some areas if survey and manage rules are abandoned. However, federal officials said they can eliminate that risk by managing known sites for the species and conducting pre-project clearance surveys for species that require those surveys. Additionally, 130 species would be added to other BLM and Forest Service protection programs, officials said. But members of environmental groups warned more species could wind up listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. "We think this is very significant," said Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council's Eugene branch. "The main purpose of the Northwest Forest Plan is to provide a safety net for rare and imperiled species. Under their proposal, 47 species would be at higher risk of extirpation. I'm afraid Endangered Species Act protections will be triggered." Heiken said forest managers not only set aside buffer zones to protect species under existing rules, but sometimes cancel harmful projects if enough rare species are found. "In some cases there's a really big effect, and in some there's a really small effect. In some cases, they walk away from a proposed timber sale because it's a hot spot for rare species," he said. Joseph Vaile, campaign coordinator for the Ashland and Williams-based Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, said the agencies' proposal would increase logging of old growth. "The principle behind the surveys is to look before you log, but the Bush administration wants to return to blind cutting of old growth - breaking the promise that forest management would be sensitive to wildlife and water quality," Vaile said. But Dave Hill, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association, said increased logging would provide a needed boost to the Northwest economy. "It would definitely be beneficial to the state of Oregon to get the timber program back on track and to or close to the level called for by the Northwest Forest Plan," he said. "The economies of the states will definitely benefit from increased production and I don't think there will be serious environmental consequences." Hill said even if survey and manage requirements are eliminated, species would still be protected by environmental rules applied throughout the nation. "We need to get back on an even basis with the rest of the country where environmental and other considerations are a normal part of the planning process," he said. "Survey and manage was always an add-on to the normal management process." Local BLM and Forest Service officials either could not be reached for comment or said it is too early to tell how the proposal could impact species and timber harvest levels here. The proposed elimination of survey and manage requirements comes on top of the federal agencies' proposal made in April to alter the Aquatic Conservation Strategy, another component of the Northwest Forest Plan. Federal officials want individual projects to move forward even if they cause harm as long as watersheds as a whole are not damaged in the long term. The decision to propose elimination of the survey and manage rules came as a result of a lawsuit filed by Douglas Timber Operators against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior, federal officials said. The timber organization charged the rules are excessive and unwarranted because they violate a sustained yield law covering Oregon and California, and are beyond the authority or intent of national environmental laws. The Draft Supplemental EIS, along with additional information, is available at or.blm.gov/nwfpnepa/index.htm#Survey_and_Manage or by sending a request to Survey and Manage SEIS Team, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, OR 97208. Comments must be post-marked by Aug. 22 and can be mailed to Survey and Manage, Argonne National Laboratory, EAD/900, 9700 S. Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439. They can be faxed to 1-866-542-5904 or entered directly at web.ead.anl.gov/surveyandmanage. A Final Supplemental Draft EIS could come out as soon as November, with a decision issued in December. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -