Timber industry takes a turn south

The spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest may have spooked the timber industry to head south. Logging demands have increased in many areas of the South, including this 1,600-acre clear-cut in Humphreys County, Tennessee

July 20, 2000
Web posted at: 12:56 p.m. EDT (1656 GMT)

By Environmental News Network staff

The environmental battles surrounding the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest are moving south.

Tensions are mounting between timber interests and environmentalists as federal agencies and industry representatives meet this week in Nashville to discuss the two-year Southern Forest Resource Assessment of forest land within the 13-state region of the southeastern United States.

Once focused on public land in the Pacific Northwest, the timber industry is turning to the 200 million acres of private timber land in the Southeast, said Chris Wood, senior policy adviser to U.S. Forest Service chief of staff Michael Domback.

"This is not an issue of public forest management," Wood said in an interview Wednesday. "It's an issue of private and state management. This is a critical distinction in terms of how the problem will be solved in the South and how it has been dealt with in the West."

Citing Resource Planning Act findings by the Forest Service that document clear-cutting of forests on private land is exceeding growth by 358 million cubic feet, conservationists are calling for state governors to impose tighter regulations on the industry in the South.

Even Domback warned that unsustainable rates of cutting are well under way in the region.

"The issue is a question of basic sustainability," he said recently in a public appearance. "Harvest levels cannot exceed growth if forests are to continue providing healthy fish and wildlife habitats, clean and pure drinking water, and scenic beauty. In fact, because of water quality concerns, the state of Missouri placed a 2-year moratorium on storm water permits for chip mills."

Despite evidence of overcutting in the South, the timber industry continues to expand without safeguards, conservation groups warn. They want a moratorium similar to that in the Pacific Northwest imposed in the South.

In the Pacific Northwest, where environmentalists crusaded for the spotted owl and other endangered wildlife, federal regulations became abundant. But in the South, where most logging occurs on private land, the industry has gone unchecked.

The nature of the logging has also changed. Of great concern among environmentalists is the proliferation of chip mills throughout the South. Over the last decade, timber companies have been clear-cutting Southern forests to feed chip mills.

Hardwood logs await the production mill at Cadron Creek, Arkansas

Conservation groups point to a recent proposal by Willamette Industries to more than double production at its chip mill in Kingsport, Tennessee. Willamette plans to cut 50,0000 acres a year from six states to supply the mill.

Since 1985, more than 100 chip mills have been constructed in the region. As a result, conservation groups say, massive industrial-scale clear-cutting has accelerated across the landscape. An estimated 1.2 million acres of forests are cleared every year to feed the 140 chip mills currently operating in the region

While most of the timber industry claims to follow voluntary "best-management" practices, conservation groups want better enforcement through state laws.

"The timber industry wrote (the rules)," Fitzgibbon said. "They're not enforceable and there are no checks and balances."

Conservation groups say loggers should be certified to guarantee that they adhere to basic standards. "If you are a logger in the South, you don't have to tell a sole," said Cielo Sand of Dogwood Alliance. "There are thousands of cuts across 13 states that nobody knows about."

"You need a license to become a barber, and you should need a license to become a logger," Fitzgibbon added.

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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Southern Forest Resource Assessment
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