we did it!!
The WOPR (Western Oregon Plan Revisions ie: supersize the cut) is DEAD!
long live the trees!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 15, 2009
Bush-Era Old-Growth Logging Plan Nixed by Obama Administration.
Conservationists see opportunity for more permanent protections.
Portland, Ore-Dealing a final blow to a Bush administration initiative to increase old-growth logging and gut the Northwest Forest Plan, the Obama administration announced today the withdrawal of the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR). This Bureau of Land Management initiative sought to drastically increase in clear-cut logging of mature and old-growth forests throughout 2.6 million acres of public forest land."President Obama has pulled the plug on the most cynical attack on Oregon's old-growth forests in decades," said Doug Heiken with the conservation group Oregon Wild, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the WOPR. "This is a victory for salmon, clean water and future Oregonians, and one that we now need to make permanent."Bush's WOPR logging plan would have cut 580 million board feet of timber from western Oregon forests each year, quadrupling the current cut level. Much of the logging would have occurred in forests older than 80 years old-forests that scientists have long stated are critical for providing clean water, wildlife habitat, and capturing the pollution that causes global warming.
http://www.oregonwild.org/
http://www.oregonwild.org/
And this just in:
Interior Withdraws Legally Flawed Plan for Oregon Forests, Presses For Sustainable Timber Harvests
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Because the previous Administration failed to follow established administrative procedure before leaving office, its plan to intensify logging in western Oregon – known as the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) – is legally indefensible and must be withdrawn, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said today.
Moreover, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Thomas Strickland said that the federal government will ask the District Court to vacate the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2008 revision of the critical habitat for the spotted owl, on which the WOPR was in part based, because Interior’s Inspector General determined that the decisionmaking process for the owl’s recovery plan was potentially jeopardized by improper political influence.
“We have carefully reviewed the lawsuits filed against the WOPR and it is clear that as a result of the previous Administration’s late actions, the plan cannot stand up in court and, if defended, could lead to years of fruitless litigation and inaction,” said Secretary Salazar. “Now, at a time when western Oregon communities are already struggling, we face the fallout of the previous Administration’s skirting of the law and efforts to taint scientific outcomes. It is important that we act swiftly to restore certainty to timber harvests on BLM lands and to protect vital timber infrastructure in these tough economic times.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Because the previous Administration failed to follow established administrative procedure before leaving office, its plan to intensify logging in western Oregon – known as the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) – is legally indefensible and must be withdrawn, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said today.
Moreover, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Thomas Strickland said that the federal government will ask the District Court to vacate the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2008 revision of the critical habitat for the spotted owl, on which the WOPR was in part based, because Interior’s Inspector General determined that the decisionmaking process for the owl’s recovery plan was potentially jeopardized by improper political influence.
“We have carefully reviewed the lawsuits filed against the WOPR and it is clear that as a result of the previous Administration’s late actions, the plan cannot stand up in court and, if defended, could lead to years of fruitless litigation and inaction,” said Secretary Salazar. “Now, at a time when western Oregon communities are already struggling, we face the fallout of the previous Administration’s skirting of the law and efforts to taint scientific outcomes. It is important that we act swiftly to restore certainty to timber harvests on BLM lands and to protect vital timber infrastructure in these tough economic times.”
Additional information on the Department’s decision and the Northwest Forest Plan are online at http://www.doi.gov/ and http://www.blm.gov/.
NEXT is protection for the Elliott State Forest and Wilderness Areas!! Yea, way to go!
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