Volume 15, Number 3
Fall 2003

South Fork Swan Song?
By Gary Macfarlane

The US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Mark Rey the former timber industry lobbyist and current Undersecretary of Agriculture, Senator Larry Craig and other politicos have targeted the already damaged South Fork Clearwater watershed in the Nez Perce National Forest (Idaho) for liquidation. This madness will likely seep over into proposed Wilderness Areas in NREPA in the near future. Five large timber sales--four proposed and one approved--threaten this area drainage.

Meadow Face timber sale with big trees marked for logging. The Forest Service is planning on amending its forest plan to remove water quality and soil protection standards so these massive timber sales can go forth. Matt Finer photo.

Watershed recovery efforts have been underway for several years and steelhead, salmon and bull trout do find homes here, though in numbers greatly reduced from what they were previously. These efforts kicked off when the Forest Service, in 1987, adopted the Nez Perce National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan set out water quality and soil standards that needed to be met in order to honor the treaties with the Nez Perce Tribe and fulfill basic water quality goals.

Essentially, no more large-scale logging can take place until the watershed moves toward recovery. However, the Forest Service is planning on amending its forest plan to remove water quality and soil protection standards so these massive timber sales can go forth. Protection of pockets of ancient forests for wildlife is also important. Yet the Forest Service dubiously claims logging benefits old forests.

Mountain pine beetles, a natural part of Western forests, and so-called fire prevention are the sham reasons behind this travesty. The real reason for this proposal is the threat to move timber mills from the area. If the issue were truly one of economics, what makes the most sense would not likely involve massive logging in an already degraded watershed especially since there is a glut of timber on the market. If fire prevention were really the issue, the Nez Perce National Forest officials are already addressing this through their leadership in approving projects that remove brush and trees near buildings for fire protection. The agency's own researcher, Jack Cohen, says this is the best way to save homes.

In an effort to protect the South Fork Clearwater, the Western Environmental Law Center is looking over the Meadow Face Record of Decision and reviewing legal points for the conservation groups interested in challenging this bad precedent--Friends of the Clearwater, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, the Ecology Center, the Idaho Sporting Congress, and the Lands Council. We can't let bureaucrats, politicos, and corporations get away with this cooked-up crisis with a pre-determined solution at the expense of the public and the forest.