U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck resigned yesterday, expressing concerns that the Bush administration was shifting the agency’s priorities back toward logging and away from conservation. Chris Wood, a former top aide, said Dombeck decided to resign after administration officials told him they wanted to move “in a different direction.” In his resignation letter, Dombeck defended rules approved by former President Clinton to ban road-building on 58.5 million acres of national forestland and a plan to protect old-growth forests. He urged Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to “withstand political pressure” and stand by the agency’s conservation initiatives.
