The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
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The Bureau of Land Management NEWS |
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Last updated: 04/04/03
Release date: July 23, 1996
- Contact:
- Tom Gorey, (202) 452-5031
The Bureau of Land Management exceeded its target for Pacific Northwest timber sale offerings last year and will meet its goal in 1996, a BLM official said in testimony today before the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands.
Nancy Keir Hayes, the BLM's Chief of Staff and Counselor, said the Bureau has committed to offer 180 million board feet of timber this year. Thus far, she said, the BLM has offered 128 million board feet and fully expects to meet its 1996 goal. As for 1997, the BLM is committed to offering 213.5 million board feet, the full amount that would be consistent with the standards of President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan, Hayes said.
Hayes made her comments at a hearing that focused on the implementation of the Forest Plan by the Forest Service and the BLM. "The BLM is meeting its targets for timber volume, and then some," Hayes said. Hayes also touted the Forest Plan, written in 1993, as a scientifically and legally sound plan that had broken an impasse over timber sales on Pacific Northwest land inhabited by the northern spotted owl.
"Before the Forest Plan, we had gridlock," Hayes said. "After the Forest Plan, we have a future for timber sales in the Northwest." The Forest Plan "has had many successes," she said, including the retraining of dislocated timber workers, the creation of a "stable, sustainable" timber supply and the protection of fish and wildlife habitat. It has also resulted in better coordination among Federal agencies in carrying out the Nation's laws. As for implementing the Forest Plan, "we hear from our customers that we're doing a pretty good job," Hayes said, adding, "We always strive to do better."
The Clinton Administration developed the Forest Plan in response to Federal court injunctions -- prompted by lawsuits -- that virtually halted timber sales on forest lands managed by the Forest Service and the BLM in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. Two Federal District Courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit have upheld the plan as being in compliance with key environmental and land-management laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act.
Hayes told the House subcommittee today that the BLM "plays a small, but vital, role" in implementing the $1.2 billion economic assistance component of the President's Forest Plan. The BLM manages part of the Jobs-in-the-Woods program, Hayes noted, which trains dislocated workers in new job skills as they restore the environment while earning a family wage. Other economic assistance to the region includes grants and loans to stimulate business growth and development and to improve community infrastructure.
The BLM spent more than $9 million on Jobs-in-the-Woods projects in 1995, Hayes said. During trips to Oregon, Hayes said the Jobs-in-the-Woods participants she has talked to have been "very enthusiastic" about their work on watershed restoration projects, which improve habitat for fish and wildlife.
(Click here to view the full statement of BLM Chief of Staff and Counselor Nancy K. Hayes before the House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Lands on the Implementation of the NW Forest Plan.)
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