Oregon Public Broadcasting

Environmentalists are pleased that Governor Ted Kulongoski has objected formally to a federal plan to increase logging in western Oregon.  KLCC’s Rachael McDonald reports.

In a letter to the Bureau of Land Management, Kulongoski cited the agency’s failure to go through formal consultation with federal scientists over the potential harm to salmon and northern spotted owls.

Josh Laughlin with Cascadia Wildlands Project in Eugene says he thinks the plan is heading for demise.

Josh Laughlin: “So I believe this plan is dying a slow death and the governor taking a real stand against the WOPR is really one of the first nails in the coffin of the Western Oregon Plan Revisions.”

The governor’s objections do not have the force of law, but could delay implementation of the plan.  

The BLM agreed to boost logging in western Oregon as part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by the timber industry.

A spokesman for the BLM says his agency is still looking over the governor’s letter.