Forest Service overseer seeks preservation of old growth
Copyright 2000 Associated Press
December 13, 2000
PORTLAND, Ore. - The timber industry has gotten a final message from the Clinton administration official who oversees the U.S. Forest Service: Stop logging old-growth forests.
Undersecretary of Agriculture Jim Lyons is ending his term by adding his voice to the issue long under protest by environmental and conservation groups.
In his final official visit to Portland last week, Lyons said "it would be a feather in the cap" of the timber industry to end old-growth logging.
"I would suggest - and I've told this to some leaders in the timber industry - I think it would be wise for the timber industry to step up to the plate and at a minimum begin a dialogue toward that goal, if not suggest some ways to address it," Lyons said.
During his eight years heading the Forest Service, Lyons has been acknowledged for raising the agency's public and political profile as the steward of federal lands.
Lyons began his tenure in 1993 by organizing President Clinton's forest summit in Portland, which led to the Northwest Forest Plan to balance logging with wildlife protection.
Lyons says it may take years before it the plan can be judged a success or failure. But he predicted an end to old-growth logging on private and public land within 10 years, in response to public sentiment.
He said the timber industry could win support by voluntarily halting old-growth logging of Northwest forests. Only an estimated 10 percent of the original forest is still standing, Lyons said.
"No one's said 'no,"' Lyons said of the industry leaders he has approached. "Some have kind of looked off and thought, 'I wonder.' "
He said retooling many sawmills to accept smaller and second-growth logs, combined with better studies on wildlife dependent on old-growth forests, has made logging of virgin timber stands unnecessary and publicly unappealing.
Lyons, a 45-year-old former congressional aide with a forestry and wildlife management degree, has drawn criticism from Congress, which limited his authority over the Forest Service.
"I think the fact that Congress took away his management of the Forest Service shows you what serious questions there are about him," said Chris West of the American Forest Resources Council.
But Harv Forsgren, the Forest Service regional forester for the Pacific Northwest, said the controversy surrounding the deputy secretary arises from his "passion and his willingness to advance some very significant conservation issues."
Environmentalists also praised Lyons for taking a stand as he leaves office.
"It does surprise me, because we don't normally hear that from such a high level," said Ivan Maluski of American Lands Alliance in Portland, a longtime foe of old-growth logging.
"It's important when it's not just the environmental community but decision-makers who recognize we are, running out of old growth," Maluski said. "Trees may be a renewable resource, but old growth is not."