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--> --> USFS alters guidance for undeveloped land WASHINGTON (AP) - The Forest Service is moving to change Clinton-era policies designed to protect undeveloped portions of national forests. New interim directives remove redundancies in agency guidelines and provide protections to pristine forest areas, agency spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch said Monday. But environmentalists contended the changes will open up an uncounted number of acres to logging, road building and other projects, as well as weaken requirements for scientific review. The directives alter a forest transportation policy developed during the Clinton administration that required each national forest to decide how many miles of roads it needs. Right now, more than 383,000 miles weave through some 192 million acres. The changes remove a requirement that smaller, undeveloped areas next to large swaths of unroaded forest lands be protected, unless there is a compelling need to develop them. They also allow regional officials to decide if environmental and public reviews are necessary to determine if development is appropriate. The Clinton administration mandated the reviews. Valetkevitch said those areas are best managed by local officials and other policies. "The roads management policy really is about managing a road system," not making decisions about undeveloped forest lands, she said. Tim Preso, a lawyer with the environmental group Earthjustice, said the administration is substantively trying to chip away at environmental protections. "It is a lot of little tinkering, but all the little tinkering paves the way for more logging in roadless areas," he said. Mike Anderson, forest analyst at the Wilderness Society, sees even bigger changes. "It removes all protection for smaller undeveloped areas that are often critically important wildlife habitats," he said. Anderson said subtle language changes in the directives also mean fewer safeguards for larger unroaded areas protected under the previous administration's "roadless rule." The rule excluded 58.5 million acres of forest land from logging, road building and other development except in rare circumstances. The directives will remain in effect for 18 months while the Forest Service decides what to do about a court decision that temporarily blocked the roadless rule from taking effect. The changes took effect Friday and will be published in the Federal Register, a clearinghouse of government regulations, later this week. The public will have 60 days to comment. Meantime, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey and Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth have approved logging in Montana's wildfire-scarred Bitterroot National Forest, setting the stage for a court battle with conservationists. Fires last year consumed more than 307,000 acres in Bitterroot, a 1.6 million-acre tract that is one of the largest stretches of American wilderness outside Alaska. Rey and Bosworth on Sunday approved a restoration plan that includes logging dead and dying trees, planting new trees, closing some forest roads and restoring stream beds. Conservationists say the "restoration" label attempts to mask the fact that the plan allows 181 million board feet of lumber to be harvested over three years from more than 46,000 acres of charred trees. They fear the logging will increase sediment in streams that are home to endangered fish. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing