- President George Bush's administration has issued new
rules for a looser, more corporate-style management of US forests, something
critics say will lead to more logging and other economic activity, and
weaken protection for dozens of already endangered species.
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- In essence the regulations - the most sweeping overhaul
of forest management in almost three decades - will give local forest supervisors
more freedom to react to events. They could range from fire problems and
invasive new species, to requests for logging or recreation permits. Supporters
claim the new system will speed up decision-making, cut costs, and bring
the US into line with much of the rest of the developed world. It will
make sure some of America's most beautiful wilderness areas are run by
people on the spot who know them best, they argue, rather than by a cumbersome,
remote bureaucracy.
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- But environmentalists complain that the scheme is yet
another example of the White House pandering to big business. "This
rips the guts out of national forest management plans," a spokesman
for the Natural Resources Defence Council said. "It doesn't ensure
the necessary resources."
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- The 155 US national forests cover some 300,000 sq miles,
more than three times the area of the UK. Largely concentrated in the Rocky
Mountains and the west, they are governed by the 1976 National Forest Management
Act.
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- That measure put the priority on preserving the ecological
health of forests and protecting endangered species. It set the stage for
confrontations such as the decades-long controversy over the northern spotted
owl, pitting conservationists against the lumber industry in the Pacific
north-west.
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- In recent years, competing pressures on forests have
- if anything - increased. Not only does the timber industry want greater
access. The forests are a growing tourist attraction, with the number of
visitors doubling in the past eight years. On the other hand, a quarter
of all US species facing extinction live in national forests, according
to the NatureServe conservationist group.
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- The new rules extend to environmental management, a system
that has gained favour in industry, and has the enthusiastic support of
this Republican White House. Instead of conforming to rigid and centralised
environmental rules, companies are encouraged to set their own standards.
The results are judged by outside auditors.
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- In this case the outside judges could be officials of
the National Forest Service, or outside environmentalist or economic groups.
But it is not clear what powers they would have, or even what standards
would be enforced.
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- The new policy has enraged environmentalists, not least
because of the timing of the announcement, just two days before Christmas
when Congress is not in session, and news coverage will be scant.
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- Democrats expressed outrage too. "These regulations
cut the public out of the forest planning process," Congressman Tom
Udall of New Mexico declared. "They will just inspire lawsuits and
provide less protection for wildlife."
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- Tom Harkin, a senior Democrat, said the new policy threatened
to "derail decades of progress" in preserving America's forests.
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- ©2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd. All rights reserved
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=595867
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