A federal study released Wednesday concludes the massive Biscuit Fire Recovery Project is operating in the red.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden requested the report from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO says at the end of last year, the U.S. Forest Service had spent $2 million more than it had collected off salvage timber sales from the Biscuit fire.
BUSH ADMINISTRATION IGNORES ADVICE TO LOG ONLY IN SALVAGEABLE AREAS
The Siskiyou National Forest's recovery plan estimated that it would make money off salvage timber sales and use it to restore much of the half-million acres that burned.
Foresters intended to plant 30,000 acres of trees. But only about 3% of that target has been met so far. And less than 20% of trees in the recovery plan have actually been logged.
Josh Kardon is Senator Wyden's chief of staff.
"We're still reviewing the report," Kardon says, "But I believe it suggests that the administration would be wise to focus on salvage only in the areas identified as appropriate for logging under the Northwest Forest Plan, or matrix."
The Northwest Forest Plan labeled salvageable trees as "matrix lands."
"Senator Wyden had encouraged the president to focus only on the matrix areas down in the Biscuit and to leave the roadless areas alone," Kardon says. "The president didn't follow Senator Wyden's advice and wound up costing taxpayers."
ENVIRONMENTALISTS' LAWSUITS DID NOT DELAY PROJECT, REPORT SAYS
Contrary to claims of Forest Service officials, the GAO report said a score of lawsuits from environmentalists had not delayed the project. It said the delay was caused by other factors, including the complexity of environmental laws and staff cuts in the Siskiyou National Forest.
Rolf Skar of the conservation group Siskiyou Project says the report backs up what he's been saying all along.
"There's no way the Biscuit fire logging project is a winner for taxpayers," Skar says. "When it's all said and done, this is going to be a big loser, especially when you add to it the mop-up work that the Forest Service still needs to do on ongoing logging operations."
"And it turns out this project was not so much a recovery project, but really all about the logging."
Mark Rey is an undersecretary of agriculture in the Bush Administration. He's the top official in charge of the U.S. Forest Service.
"I think the analysis is right in part and wrong in part," Rey says. "Where it's right is that the complexity of environment laws did result in this project taking a long time to complete."
"Where GAO errs is in asserting that there was no delay caused by the litigation. Fifteen times the opponents of this project went into a federal district court and said, 'The Forest Service should be stopped by the court because they broke the law.' And 15 times the court disagreed with that."
There was a 16th court decision last month when a federal judge in San Francisco reinstated former President Clinton's roadless area rule.
That decision came as the last two Biscuit logging projects were wrapping up in roadless areas of the Siskiyou National Forest. This week, the judge denied a request to halt the last project.
'FOREST SERVICE FOLLOWED NORMAL PROCEDURES'
Proceeds from the last two sales are not included in the GAO report. Undersecretary Rey says that will reduce some of the red ink in the Biscuit Project.
He wants to emphasize a sentence in the report that says the National Forest staff "followed the general approach for post-fire recovery."
"Where we agree was the Forest Service followed normal procedures in this project," Rey says. "And the complexity of our current suite of environmental laws made this a long and complicated project to bring to a conclusion."
"That's why the president yesterday called on Congress to pass Congressman Walden's Post-Fire Restoration, Research and Recovery Act."
The Walden-Baird bill would reduce the time needed to comply with federal environmental laws and therefore speed up salvage logging projects.
Both congressmen say the GAO study proves the need for their legislation. They hope it will pass in a lame-duck session of Congress after Thanksgiving before new members from the November election take their seats.
Environmental groups strongly disagree. They point out that even though the Biscuit Project has taken more than two years to complete, mistakes were made. In one instance, logging took place in a botanical reserve, and, in another sale, trees in a wilderness area were cut.Oregon Public Broadcasting
