U.S. Senate bill may help logging on federal lands

The Forest Landscape Restoration Act: a starting point for the future of federal forests.

A recently proposed U.S. Senate bill may be that rare piece of legislation related to logging on federal land that both conservationists and the timber industry can agree on.

The Forest Landscape Restoration Act would allocate $40 million annually for thinning, fuel reduction and environmental restoration projects on swathes of federal land at least 50,000 acres in size.

Some environmental groups have embraced the bill, which they say would improve the vitality of forests and reduce the risk of catastrophic fire.

"Millions of acres of federally managed forests are in poor health," said Stephanie Meeks, acting president and CEO of the Nature Conservancy, in a statement. "Forests protect our drinking water, help keep our air clean and shelter wildlife. We must act now to restore their ecological balance."

The forest products industry is also tentatively optimistic about the bill's implications, as it would generate a more reliable supply of timber, Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, told the Capital Press.

Currently, management on federal land is generally limited to 50- to 100-acre "boutique projects" that usually require years of planning, he said.

By funding projects of a much larger scale, the bill would be more likely to have a positive impact on the lumber and logging industries, he explained.

"That's really the level of management we need," said Partin. "What we are looking for is a consistent flow of material from the woods."

The Forest Landscape Restoration Act, as proposed, is a much more practical bill than another piece of legislation expected to be presented to Congress this year, the Pacific Northwest Forest Legacy Act, which is currently being drafted by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said Partin.

The draft bill would overhaul the Northwest Forest Plan and prohibit thinning on "late-successional forests" unless the project is backed up by peer-reviewed scientific literature, according to DeFazio's summary.

"It would be a recipe for disaster, setting more forests aside to burn up," said Partin.

Currently, thinning and fuel reduction occurs on about 3 million acres of federal forest a year, which is only about two percent of the land in need of these practices, according to the Nature Conservancy.

"The need for landscape-scale treatments to restore forest health is urgent," according to the group's statement. "Across America, forests are choking."

Although the The Forest Landscape Restoration Act seems to be winning broad-based support, the bill still has a long way to go.

It allocates $40 million annually for 10 years, but "getting the dollars appropriated is another thing," said Partin.

As the bill works itself through Congress, its evolution may also create some ideological differences.

For example, while the Oregon Wild environmental group has spoken out in favor of the restoration practices in Forest Landscape Restoration Act, it believes the bill doesn't adequately safeguard old growth timber.

Oregon Wild has called on one of the bill's co-sponsors, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to strengthen provisions that would prevent logging of mature stands.

"As the Forest Restoration Bill moves forward, we hope that Senator Wyden can convey the importance of protecting our last old-growth forests, and direct the (U.S.) forest Service and the (Bureau of Land Management) to carry out projects that restore old-growth characteristics to forests that have been mismanaged," said Jonathan Jelen, old growth campaign coordinator for Oregon Wild.

Partin, on the other hand, supports managing forests for overall health rather than ambiguous definitions of maturity, like diameter.

"Let's focus more on what we leave than what we take," he said.

A legislative hearing on the bill is expected this spring, according to a statement on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources web site.

Staff writer Mateusz Perkowski is based in Salem, Ore. E-mail: mperkowski@capitalpress.com.