Logging Ban A Loser, Gop Senators Warn White House

Sat., Jan. 10, 1998

From Wire Reports

Six Republican senators from Western states told the Clinton administration Friday that Congress would strongly resist any attempt by the Forest Service to ban logging in roadless parts of national forests.

The senators also said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman that any administration attempt to make political points from the issue would doom the new roadless-area strategy.

“We hope you agree, given the deep resonance of this issue throughout the rural West, that the citizens who depend upon the national forests for livelihoods and recreation opportunities deserve better,” they wrote.

Sens. Frank Murkowski of Alaska, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Larry Craig of Idaho, chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on forests and public land management, were the lead authors of the letter.

It also was signed by Sens. Slade Gorton of Washington, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on the interior; Gordon Smith of Oregon; Conrad Burns of Montana; and Craig Thomas of Wyoming.

Stefany Bales, communication program manager for the InterMountain Forest Industry Association in Coeur d’Alene said the administration’s plan was “bad for people out here in the West.”

She said many roadless areas in Idaho were intentionally left available for logging after prolonged discussions in the past. “To have something come down from the White House now is a complete breach of trust, and it sends a very poor message to folks out here who try very hard to solve the kinds of problems we have on public lands,” she said.

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