In an effort to improve water quality and protect fish populations, California Gov. Gray Davis (D) has proposed new regulations to tighten logging restrictions along streams on private forestland. But environmentalists say they don’t go far enough. The rules would represent steps toward strengthening the state’s 26-year-old Forest Practices Act, which many say has failed to protect watersheds, fish, and wildlife on the state’s 8 million acres of private timberland. The timber industry warns that the stricter rules would drive some landowners away from logging and toward development.
