Oregon Public Broadcasting

Federal officials released a long-awaited set of recommendations Thursday on southwest Oregon forests. It's the review that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised more than a year ago, when he canceled a Bush Administration logging plan. As Rob Manning reports, the list of the review's critics is growing.

OPB

Environmentalists and timber lobbyists who saw the Western Oregon Task Force report yesterday, didn't like it. Neither do four members of Oregon's congressional delegation.

Representatives Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader, Greg Walden, and Senator Ron Wyden sent a join letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressing "deep disappointment" at the report.

DeFazio says it's too much analysis, too little action.

Peter DeFazio: "Now they've got a plan to have a plan, after a year, and they say it'll take another three years. I just find this absurd."

The report recommends sticking to non-controversial timber sales that aren't likely to run afoul of environmental laws, for the next three years.

Congressional and timber representatives say that the focus on thinning over the past year has produced only a fraction of the promised timber in the Medford and Roseburg Bureau of Land Management districts.

Linda Rundell runs the BLM in four states in the Southwest, and she chaired the task force. She says advocates wanted a "silver bullet."

Linda Rundell: "But there are no silver bullets. This is a very, very complex and difficult issue that a whole lot of very intelligent people have been wrestling with for a long time."

Rundell and DeFazio agree that there's a need for consensus and compromise among the various interests – in Oregon, and among federal agencies. DeFazio says he's started to bring the various factions together, but there remain strong differences of opinion.

A report from environmental group, Oregon Wild blames nine sawmill operators who are pushing for old-growth logging. DeFazio accuses some environmental groups of favoring "zero-cut" on public lands.

Linda Rundell says she has heard some consensus.

Linda Rundell: "What we're hoping is that we can build on those areas of agreement, and establish some kind of a collaborative relationship, where people's trust level comes up."

Differences of opinion remain within the federal government, as well.

The Oregon delegation is fighting with the Obama Administration over BLM funding. And, Interior officials had hoped to reach an agreement with leaders in the Agriculture and Commerce departments by the end of the month, to start putting the recommended task forces and committees together.

But a spokeswoman says that's not likely to happen by then. 

Web extras:

Letter from Rep. Peter DeFazio (.doc)

Oregon Wild Report (.pdf)