Ad Paid For By Timber Industry Group

Thu., June 22, 2000

A full-page newspaper ad that appeared in Wednesday’s editions of The Spokesman-Review and the Coeur d’Alene Press was purchased by a timber industry group.

The ad, bought by the Intermountain Forest Association, lambasts the Clinton administration’s roadless initiative.

It ran in both newspapers without attribution.

The ad featured an image of a forest in flames, burning from a match stamped “Al Gore’s Roadless Policy.”

It warns that the roadless plan raises the risk of dangerous wildfires such as the blaze around Los Alamos, and encourages people to attend a hearing held Wednesday on the roadless proposal.

People are directed to a Web site - www.usconservation.org - run by members of the Pulp and Paperworkers Resource Council, which represents workers at the Lewiston Potlatch mill. Last year, the council was reprimanded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for misusing the agency’s logo on newspaper ads opposing Snake River dam breaching.

Hal Rowe, of the Kettle Range Conservation Group, criticized the ad’s use of “scare tactics” during the hearing in Coeur d’Alene.

“There’s not a single scientific fact here,” Rowe said.

Logging increases the risk of fire by removing cooling shade and creating flammable debris on the ground, he said.

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