logging
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Bush administration plans to scrap roadless-rule forest protections
Many political observers thought President Bush would lay off the environment during the election season. After all, he faces an opponent with a well-burnished rep as an environmental good boy. Seems they’ve misunderestimated Dubya yet again. Ann Veneman. Photo: USDA. On Monday, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced a Bush administration plan to scrap the hard-won […]
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USDA’s Mark Rey drags feet on releasing info about forest policymaking
Mark Rey. Photo: USFS. According to lawyers from Defenders of Wildlife, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, seems to be pulling some moves out of the Dick Cheney playbook — the very same tricks of evasion and secrecy that have jeopardized the vice president’s reputation in the fiasco surrounding his energy […]
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Federal agencies at odds over salvage-logging proposal in Oregon
Siskiyou-hoo! Photo: BLM. A U.S. Forest Service proposal to conduct a massive salvage-logging operation in Oregon’s Siskiyou National Forest has come up against a surprising critic — the U.S. EPA. While the Bush administration has advertised the plan as a necessary measure to protect the future health of the forest — which was hit by […]
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Wood-labeling program less green than it appears
If you’ve got plans to undertake a woodworking project — building a deck, say, or a fancy new china cabinet — you’re probably not going to figure a plane ticket to Burma or Humboldt County, Calif., into the budget, even if you’d like to be sure that the wood you’ll use has been harvested sustainably. […]
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Keep the Forest Fires Burning
Critics Charge Forest Service With Overzealous Fire Fighting A growing cadre of critics charge the U.S. Forest Service with fighting too many fires, saying that the cost — in money, lives, and ecological damage — is too high. As logging in national forests has declined by 80 percent over the last decade, fighting fires has […]
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I’m on the Hunt, I’m After You
Bush Angers Hunters and Anglers by Promoting Resource Extraction The Bush administration is ticking off many traditionally Republican hunters and anglers with its plans to encourage logging and oil and gas drilling in natural areas throughout the Western U.S. Last week, 450 U.S. gun clubs sent a petition to the U.S. Forest Service objecting to […]
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Fighting Fire With Hot Air
California Wildfires Put Pressure on Senate to Pass Bush’s Forest Plan The wildfires raging through Southern California are turning up the heat on senators to pass President Bush’s “Healthy Forests” plan, which would limit environmental and judicial reviews of many logging projects in national forests with the stated aim of reducing the risk of fire. […]
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The Mahogany and the Ecstasy
Brazil clamped down on the logging of mahogany in the Amazon Rainforest last week, putting in place new rules that require loggers to present plans showing how harvesting will be done sustainably. Brazil produces about half of the world’s supply of mahogany, a highly prized — and highly endangered — wood sought for the making […]
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The Evidence Is Thin
A new report by the federal government has found that very few forest-thinning projects have been stalled by appeals from environmentalists, giving the lie to allegations to the contrary by the Bush administration. The General Accounting Office reported yesterday that the U.S. Forest Service was able to proceed with 95 percent of thinning projects within […]
