Operation Enduring Forests:
Exposing the Lies of the Bush/Rey Forest Service

While the Bush Administration carefully greenwashes its anti-environmental image, logging, mining, oil and gas, and motorized recreation interests are poised to exploit the last untouched wild areas on America's national forests and federal public lands.

Emboldened by the 2000 election - when they contributed millions of dollars to Bush's presidential campaign - these resource extractive industries are now dictating the management of 192,000,000 acres of national forest lands.

Consider the fact that Mark Rey - a timber industry lobbyist for the past two decades - is now responsible for the management of 155 national forests as Bush's Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment.

Consequently, America's national forests have never been so ecologically endangered and vulnerable to corporate control. Of course, given their connections to industry, the Bush Administration and Mark Rey are acting as if everything is fine, sort of like "Denial with a Smile!"

Sadly, it doesn't require a lot of scrutiny to see through the smoke screen of the Bush/Rey Forest Service's version of environmental protection. With Mark Rey running the show, the cutting of trees, grazing of cows and drilling for oil, gas and other minerals is taking precedence over the protection of clean air, clean water and wildlife habitat.

The Bush/Rey Forest Service is subtly weakening environmental protection standards designed to preserve and maintain the ecological integrity of public lands. A quick look at some of the Bush/Rey Forest Service's policy decisions and proposals reveals their pro-industry agenda:

• Failed to implement the Roadless Area Conservation Rule: The Bush/Rey Forest Service has purposely delayed implementation of the Roadless Rule and failed to defend it in court against the timber industry and the states of Alaska and Idaho.
  
  
• Misappropriated federal funds to support commercial logging: The Bush/Rey Forest Service has inappropriately used National Fire Plan restoration funds to conduct post-fire salvage logging, thinning and other commercial timber sales.
  
  
• Using the wildfires of 2000 to increase logging: The Bush/Rey Forest Service is playing on the public's fear of wildfires to promote "forest health" initiatives and other phony "restoration" projects in order to rationalize logging of ancient old-growth, roadless areas and other high-conservation value forests and to increase the federal timber sale program.
  
  
• Proposal to create "charter forests": Rey proposes to take national forest decision making power away from the American public and give it to local, state and corporate interests by creating private trusts that are mandated to turn a profit.

"Analysis Paralysis" or "Accountability Insurmountability?"

With an eye towards increasing logging and resource extraction from national forests, the new mantra of the Bush/Rey Forest Service is "analysis paralysis." The agency complains of management "gridlock" caused by our nation's environmental laws and from too much paperwork due to excessive planning rules and public participation requirements.

In testimony before a Senate committee Rey stated, "What is commonly referred to as 'gridlock' or 'analysis paralysis' is directly affecting the ability of the agency to…provide communities a sustainable flow of forest products." What Rey really means is that our nation's environmental laws are interfering with the Bush/Rey Forest Service's desire to increase logging.

In fact, Bosworth said as much during testimony before a Senate committee in May. Bosworth announced that "getting work done on the ground" and "taking local needs into account" were his top priorities along with "delivery of forest products." Bosworth concluded that increased logging would take several years to accomplish and could only be possible by "streamlining" our nation's environmental laws.

To help solve the problem, both Rey and Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth have proposed doing an "end run" around the nation's environmental laws and have even stated that a process is underway to "review" key environmental laws, including laws protecting endangered species and clean air and water!

Of course, the real problem facing the Forest Service is "accountability insurmountability." The Bush/Rey Forest Service simply refuses to make themselves accountable to the public who they are supposed to serve. The agency has consistently refused to follow environmental laws, to operate in good faith and to be accountable to Congress, federal judges and the American public.

The Bush/Rey Forest Service's wholesale meddling with our nation's environmental laws and public participation requirements must stop.

Failing to Implement the Roadless Area Conservation Rule

Following two decades of political deliberations and three years of unprecedented public participation involving over two million Americans, the U.S. Forest Service issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in January 2001. The Roadless Rule would have stopped some forms of commercial logging and roadbuilding within 58.5 million acres of national forest lands.

Since taking office, Mark Rey and the Bush Administration have purposefully delayed implementation of the Roadless Rule - with the intention of scrapping it all together. In fact, even before taking a position with the Bush Administration in October 2001, Rey was working - through Idaho Senator Larry Craig - on a legislative scheme to prevent the Roadless Rule from being implemented.

These delay tactics from the Bush Administration come despite the May 2001 promise from Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to support the Roadless Rule. Veneman's promise came on the heels of Attorney General John Ashcroft's pledge that he would also enforce the policy. In the past year, the Administration has broken both of these promises by undermining the Roadless Rule and failing to defend the Rule in court when it was challenged by Boise Cascade timber company and the states of Idaho and Alaska.
Clearly, the Bush/Rey Forest Service's real agenda is to open up these pristine wildlands to more logging and development. Dozens of proposals are now on the table to open up national forest roadless areas around the country.

In just the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho, two massive timber sales endanger four pristine roadless areas containing rare low-elevation, old-growth forests. The North Lochsa Face timber sale is located within the North Lochsa Slope roadless area encompassing segments of the historic Lewis and Clark Trail. An even larger timber sale, the Middle Black, threatens the integrity of the Mallard Larkins, Siwash and Pot Mountain roadless areas. Together, these timber sales would cut enough trees to fill 35,000 log trucks lined up for over 300 miles!

In addition, this May - in a major test of the Bush/Rey Forest Service's stance on the roadless issue - the New York Times reported that "the Bush Administration plans to recommend that 9 million [roadless] acres of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska be opened for logging, mining and road building." Currently, thirty-three roadless area timber sales - totaling over one billion board feet - are planned for the Tongass National Forest, many in ancient, old-growth temperate rainforests.

Misappropriating Federal Funds to Support Logging

Following the wildfires of 2000, Congress passed a bill mandating the implementation of the National Fire Plan (NFP). To date, over $6.6 billion in taxpayer dollars have been allocated to the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior for NFP implementation. According to the NFP website, the NFP "is a long-term investment that will help protect communities and natural resources."

Alarmingly, under the Bush Administration, NFP funds have either been misappropriated or misused to promote commercial logging. According to a November 2001 report released by the Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General, the Forest Service inappropriately used National Fire Plan (NFP) funds intended for fire restoration to conduct commercial timber sales - including the nation's largest timber sale on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana. Contrary to what Rey would have us believe, the report also stated that, "commercial timber sales do not meet the criteria for forest restoration."

In April, a report by the John Muir Project of California (www.johnmuirproject.org) revealed that 83% of all projects funded by NFP brush reduction funds in the Sierra Nevada are actually commercial timber sales. Brush reduction funds were supposed to be used to reduce flammable undergrowth adjacent to forest communities in the West; however, not one of projects in the Sierra Nevada focused on the reduction of flammable brush near homes.

This is occurring despite the fact that the NFP warns that the agency's wildland fire policy "should not rely on commercial logging or new road building to reduce fire risks" because "the removal of large, merchantable trees from forests does not reduce fire risk and may, in fact, increase such risk."

To make matters worst, the GAO reported in February 2002 that the Forest Service and Department of Interior have failed to identify communities that face a high risk of wildfire, and have not reported on what was accomplished with appropriated wildfire funds. The GAO report also criticized the Forest Service and Interior Department for failing to effectively coordinate their activities.

Using the Wildfires of 2000 to Increase Logging

Mark Rey, the Forest Service and the timber industry recognize that the wildfires of 2000 may perhaps be their last real opportunity to return to the glory days of the Reagan Administration, when taxpayer-subsidized logging and roadbuilding dominated our national forests.

Unfortunately, Mark Rey and the Forest Service are promoting a great deal of misinformation about wildfire, hoping to capitalize on public fire hysteria, and minimize public opposition to increased logging and roadbuilding in our national forests. Wildfire has emerged as the driving force behind the Bush/Rey Forest Service's logging program: virtually every single timber sale in the West - and many in the East - are now couched in terms of "reducing fuels" or "restoring forest health."

For example, backcountry "thinning" is frequently justified as a method of protecting people's homes. Yet the Forest Service's own Fire Science Lab has said "the likelihood that a home will ignite from wildfire is almost entirely determined by the landscape within 40 meters of the building and by the materials and design of the building."

Rey even went so far as to say in a recent interview that while logging will always be controversial, it also remains "the best thing for the environment." While science has unquestionably demonstrated that the real "forest health" problem is a result of logging, roadbuilding, grazing and fire suppression, Rey and the timber industry would have us believe that we can log and road our way to healthier national forests.

The most egregious example of the Forest Service using the wildfires of 2000 to increase logging is found on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana. In April 2001, the Forest Service proposed to "restore" the Bitterroot National Forest with the largest timber sale in Forest Service history. Forest Service officials based their entire plan on an unproven "re-burn theory," which even they admitted had no scientific basis or merit.

In December - once the Forest Service and Mark Rey realized that its controversial plan would not withstand public scrutiny - the Forest Service illegally circumvented the public appeals process when Mark Rey signed the record of decision for the logging plan, followed by a U.S. District Court judge criticizing the Forest Service for electing "to take the law into its own hands." Rey and Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth later took part in a highly political mediation that resulted in a settlement releasing the largest current national forest timber sale in the country.

Proposal to Create "Charter Forests"

With their "charter forests" proposal, the Bush/Rey Forest Service is attempting to transfer the management of some national forests from the Forest Service to local "trusts" consisting largely of "user groups." The "user groups" could include logging and mining companies as well as hiking and ATV groups.

In other words, the Bush Administration is proposing to give exclusive management control of America's national forests to local interests that live adjacent to these lands and to corporate interests who profit from them. This proposal completely leaves the hundreds of millions of Americans - who are currently equal owners of federal public lands - without any say in their management. This would be like giving control of the Statue of Liberty only to residents of New York!

The "charter forest" proposal is rooted in a libertarian approach to federal land management policy - the premise that all management activity should be to turn a profit. But this approach ignores the reality of why public lands were set aside over a century ago. The primary motivation behind the creation of our federal public lands system was to keep these lands out of the control of industry and to manage them in the public trust - for all Americans.

Rey's "charter forest" plan is included as a "legislative proposal" in the Bush Administration's FY 2003 Forest Service budget. Though the proposal is vague, Rey has stated that he wants to use one or two national forests - perhaps the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota or the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho - as case studies to see if the government can remove "procedural bottlenecks" that occur in day-to-day management and emphasize local involvement in decision-making.

While Rey has stated that the goal of "charter forests" is not to increase a particular activity - such as commercial logging, mining or ATV use - given Rey and the Administration's strong pro-industry ties, you can bet that increased resource extraction is a certainty.

Meet Mark Rey:
A Devoted Timber Industry Lobbyist

Mark Rey U.S. Department of Agriculture Room 217-E, Jamie L. Whitten Building 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20250 (202) 720-7173

As President Bush's Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, former timber industry lobbyist Mark Rey is responsible for the management of 155 national forests, 19 national grasslands, and 15 land utilization projects on 192,000,000 acres of publicly-owned lands in 44 states.

October, 2001-Present: Sworn in as Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman. In this position, Rey oversees the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

1995-2001: Rey served as a staff member with the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Rey was the committee's lead staff person for work on national forest policy and USFS Administration, where he was directly involved in virtually all legislation concerning the USFS during this time period, with principal responsibility for a number of public lands bills. Specifically, Rey was the "key architect" (National Journal, 1997) of Sen. Larry Craig's (R-ID) 1997 version of the National Forest Management Act, which would have eliminated citizen oversight and made timber harvest levels mandatory and enforceable, while making environmental standards unenforceable "policies." The Act would have allowed the USFS to fine citizens up to $10,000 for filing appeals to halt timber sales for an "improper purpose." Rey is also widely known as the author of the infamous 1995 Salvage Rider, which suspended all environmental laws, giving logging interests the go-ahead to clearcut ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest (National Journal, 1996).

1992-1994: Vice President of Forest Resources for the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA). AF&PA is the leading national voice for more logging in national forests. Rey pushed for getting rid of the USFS appeals process, claiming it was being abused by "high-paid special interest litigators or by college pranksters" (Lewiston Morning Tribune, 1992).

1989-1992: Executive Director of the American Forest Resource Alliance, a coalition of 350 timber corporations formed by the National Forest Products Association to oppose "Option 9" - a plan to designate habitat in the Pacific Northwest for the endangered northern spotted owl. Rey publicly promoted the idea that the Endangered Species Act unfairly restricts business (National Journal, 1992) and authored a 1991 "secret" proposal circulated to the first Bush Administration calling for logging quotas in these ancient forests (Gannett News Service, 1991).

1984-1989: Vice President of Public Forestry Programs for the National Forest Products Association, a precursor to the American Forest and Paper Association.

1976-1984: Served as "Environmental Forester;" Director of Water Quality Programs; and Director of Water and Air Quality Programs for the National Forest Products Association/American Paper Institute.

Other Major Accomplishments and Public Statements

• Stated in 1991, "Claims that our forests are being overcut are simply not true. Not one forest in the entire national forest system has come close to meeting the timber harvest levels called for in its forest plan." (Mark Rey, letter to The New York Times, October 23, 1991).
  
  
• In responding to a 1991 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to designate 11.6 million acres of the Pacific Northwest as prime northern spotted owl habitat, Rey stated, "With this insane proposal the government has placed the interest of owls above the interest of thousands of logging families and communities." (Wall Street Journal, 1991).
• Has stated that clearcut logging, while "not aesthetically uplifting" is "compatible with rain forest ecology" and that the practice is "relatively comparable" to windstorms (Sunset Magazine, 1997).
  
  
• In 2000, Rey handled Sen. Craig's opposition to the Roadless Initiative (Almanac of the Unelected, 2000). Helped develop Sen. Craig's plan to stall the policy until the new Bush Administration could take office by introducing legislation to require a congressional oversight committee to investigate how the policy came about, effectively delaying enactment for at least a year (Oregonian, 2000).
  
  
• At a speech given at UC Berkeley in October 2000, stated, "Our public lands are now under the protection of sweeping laws, like the Endangered Species Act, enforced by powerful federal agencies. There is no emergency that warrants this unilateral exercise of executive authority."

Special thanks to EarthJustice and the Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research for background information.