This Thursday, August 21, President Bush will visit Oregon to discuss wildfire policy. Oregon offers a number of important lessons for forest management, and the Metolius Basin Forest Management Plan is an example of how citizens groups and the federal government can work together to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire, protect the safety of people, preserve watersheds and other natural resources, and restore old-growth forest conditions.

• Through the current system of checks and balances, public involvement and citizens comments helped the Forest Service amend their original proposal for the Metolius to avoid logging three million board feet of old-growth ponderosa pine trees.

By working in coordination, citizens groups and the Forest Service developed alternative plans that will now protect important habitat for threatened, endangered and sensitive species including the spotted owl, bald eagle, white-headed woodpecker, and bull trout.

Working under the guidelines of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Forest Service developed and considered five alternative plans for the Metolius project. Ultimately, the Forest Service picked a less environmentally harmful alternative that will provide for the thinning of smaller diameter trees to reduce fire risk and promote forest health on 12,600 acres, while also protecting endangered species habitat.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration is promoting legislation that would severely restrict such valuable input from citizen groups, and abolish the NEPA requirement for federal agencies to consider alternative courses of actions.

• Under the Bush plan, the success of the Metolius Project would have been impossible. While citizen groups and the Forest Service were able to find common ground on the Metolius project, the Bush plan would actually promote litigation by blocking meaningful public input during the early stages of the decision-making process and instead force citizens to turn to the courts.

Below is a comparison of the successes of the Metolius Project achieved under the current system of checks and balances, versus what is called for under the Bush proposal:

Metolius Project: Citizens were allowed 30 days for public comment on Forest Service proposal and 60 days to comment on alternatives. Citizens were also allowed to comment on the Forest Service's final decision.
Bush Plan: The Forest Service would be required to hold just one meeting to accept public comments and citizens could not comment on alternatives. Public comments would not be accepted on a final decision.

Metolius Project: Citizens had the opportunity to appeal Forest Service decisions within 45 days.
Bush Plan: No review process is defined under the plan. Limits are placed on who can appeal.

Metolius Project: Citizens and the Forest Service had 60 days to reach agreement and avert costly litigation
Bush Plan: Citizens would be required to sue within 15 days of a decision. This will lead to more court cases.

Metolius Project: The Forest Service was required under NEPA to develop several alternative plans to determine the least environmentally harmful course of action.
Bush Plan: Federal Agencies would no longer be required to consider alternative courses of actions.

• Through coordination between the Forest Service and the public, the Metolius Project will be implemented through a combination of traditional timber sales and service contracts, along with work accomplished through partnerships between government agencies, community groups and individual volunteers. The project will log a total of 21-22 million board feet of timber. Prescribed burning, brush mowing, small tree thins and commercial thins will be used to treat the forests, including in the wildland-urban interface - the area where communities and forests meet.

Jay Ward (ONRC): 503-283-6343, ext 210
Paul Shively (Sierra Club): 503-201-1254