Environment
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October 3, 2002
Bush revises logging rules
PORTLAND (AP) -- The Bush administration has agreed to revise environmental rules restricting some logging of federal lands, as part of a proposed settlement of a lawsuit brought by the timber industry.
Timber industry and administration officials said they expect the changes to ease requirements for detailed surveys of forest life -- including snails and fungi -- that can take years to complete.
Loggers see the "survey and manage" rules as a hurdle to meeting the projections of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which was meant to be a compromise between wildlife protection and timber cutting.
Environmentalists defend the rules as crucial safeguards for remaining old-growth forests in Washington, Oregon and northern California. They said the tentative settlement reached Monday could have disastrous consequences.