Mark Rey Wants to Take Our Forests Away

Log Deck at the Elk Point 2 timber sale - part of the Bitterroot National Forest's Burned Area Recovery Plan. This "recovery" plan calls for logging enough trees to fill log trucks lined up end to end for 100 miles. Photo by Wild Rockies Earth First!

By Matthew Koehler, Native Forest Network

As news reports about the wildfires came in from the western U.S. during August of 2000, Mark Rey must have seen some opportunity among the flames.

That's because Mark Rey, the timber industry and the Forest Service 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 - regardless of the consequences. And regardless of the truth.

At the time of the 2000 wildfires, Rey - a former timber industry lobbyist with the unique knack for finding excuses to "get the cut out" - was serving as a staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. In this capacity, Rey was the brains behind staunchly pro-timber Senator Larry Craig's (R-ID) efforts to dramatically increase logging and roadbuilding on America's national forests.

Who will ever forget the infamous 1995 Salvage Rider, which suspended environmental laws to greatly increase logging of our ancient forests? Or how about Senator Craig's 1997 attempts to eliminate citizen oversight of the national forests and make national forest logging levels mandatory and enforceable? These policies - designed to limit public participation and increase logging - were crafted by none other than Rey.

Since the wildfires of 2000, the timber industry and the Forest Service have launched a massive PR campaign that has not only turned science on its head, but has also whipped the public into a hysteria loud enough to wake the slumbering timber beast.

Of course, the timber industry also received a giant shot in the arm when the Bush Administration was installed into power and Mark Rey was selected by Bush to be Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment - responsible for the management of America's national forests. The millions of dollars the timber industry gave to Bush in campaign contributions was certainly money well spent.

With the general public understandably confused as a result of the onslaught of timber industry and Forest Service propaganda, virtually every single timber sale in the West - and a fair number in the East - are now couched in terms of "reducing fuels" or "restoring forest health." 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.

It's ironic that while Rey and the timber industry are busy using the wildfires to justify more logging and roadbuilding, the facts surrounding those wildfires reach a vastly different conclusion. For starters, while we often hear that 2000 was one of the worst fire seasons ever, the truth is that the wildfires in 2000 burned 7.4 million acres, which is roughly half the 13.9 million acres burned in an average year from 1916-1999.

Then there is the fact that according to Mike Dombeck - Chief of the Forest Service at the time - three out of four fires that burned in national forests during 2000 burned in logged and roaded areas - not roadless areas or old-growth forests.

Add to this the Agriculture and Interior Department's report on the 2000 wildfires which stated that, "the removal of large, merchantable trees from forests does not reduce fire risk and may, in fact, increase such risk" and it leads you to the inevitable conclusion that Rey is looking out for his friends in the timber industry - not the American public or our public lands.

A few highlights on how Mark Rey and the Bush Administration have been managing our national forests over the past year should help illustrate the point:

• According to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report released last fall, the Forest Service secretly eliminated the Timber Sales Program Information Reporting System (TSPIRS) - an annual report that provided a fiscal snapshot of the cost of the federal logging program to U.S. taxpayers.
  
  
• According to a November 2001 report released by the Dept. of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General, the Forest Service inappropriately used National Fire Plan (NFP) funds appropriated for fire restoration to conduct commercial timber sales. 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 December, the Forest Service illegally circumvented the public appeals process when Mark Rey signed the record of decision for the Bitterroot National Forest's "Burned Area Recovery Plan." A U.S. District Court judge criticized the Forest Service for electing "to take the law into its own hands." This "recovery" plan - pictured above - is currently the largest national forest timber sale in the nation.
  
  
• In February, Mark Rey proposed establishing "charter forests" by transferring the management of some national forests from the Forest Service to local "trusts" consisting largely of "user groups."
  
  
• In April, a report by the John Muir Project 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.
  
  
• In May, 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." This recommendation - which greatly favors the timber industry - was made in spite of the tremendous support of the American people for roadless protection.
  
  
• The new mantra of Mark Rey and Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth, complaining about how environmental laws are getting in the way of their efforts to increase logging on public lands, is "analysis paralysis." Rey has 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." They simply refuse to make themselves accountable to the public who they are supposed to serve.

Mark Rey's agenda for exploiting America's national forests stands in marked contrast to the views of the overwhelming majority of Americans. The American people don't want to see their national forests logged, mined and grazed. They want to see them protected and restored to provide clear air and water, wilderness, wildlife habitat and compatible forms of recreation for the public.

While no one can say just how much damage former timber industry lobbyist Mark Rey will be able to inflict on America's national forests, one thing is certain: if we do not stand up now and oppose him with all our might, it may be too late to save what is left when he is through.

Matthew Koehler is coordinator of the Native Forest Network's Public Lands Project.