Oregon Public Broadcasting
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=648372
OPB
News
Former Governor
Says Biscuit Plan Just Politics
By
Ley Garnett
PORTLAND, OR 2004-06-09 (OPB
Radio) - Former Governor John
Kitzhaber today urged the Oregon
Board of Forestry to revise its
approach to managing the
Tillamook State Forest.
Kitzhaber said the health of
watersheds should guide the
plan, rather than harvest levels
or species protection.
He said watershed health should
also be the standard for all
western forests, no matter
whether the state or the federal
government owns them. Kitzhaber
said he was coming forward
because he is frustrated by the
Biscuit Fire Recovery plan.
John Kitzhaber: This was about
electing a president. It had
nothing to do with managing an
ecosystem, had nothing to do
with sustainable timber to local
communities, had nothing to do
with real serious commitment to
expand wilderness. And that is
the poster child of what's wrong
with this process right now.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest
Service has declared that eleven
individual timber sales in the
Biscuit Fire Recovery area are
economic emergencies. That means
logging could begin this summer,
even if the sales are under
legal challenge.
©
Copyright 2004,
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