NEWS ROUNDUP

Whistleblower testifies timber theft unit disbanded A US Forest Service timber theft unit was disbanded just as it found evidence of massive theft on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, according to testimony heard today in a Portland courtroom. Former investigator Steven Slagowski testified that logs worth millions of dollars routinely disappeared while they were being floated down Alaskan rivers in the early 1990s. He says the logs ended up being secretly sold in Asia for inflated prices. He also testified that entire islands in southern Alaska were clearcut but a fringe of forest was left standing to make it appear as if nothing had been removed. But he says his reports were ignored, and former Forest Service chief Jack Ward Thomas eventually decided to disband the unit in 1995...Environmentalists Sue Over Alaska Logging Plan Environmentalists said on Wednesday they have sued the U.S. Forest Service over a plan they say threatens to open up valuable sections of the largest national forest to clear-cut logging. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Juneau, said the Forest Service's six-year-old management plan for Alaska's Tongass National Forest was based on flawed information that exaggerated the demand for timber from there. The lawsuit also challenges six Tongass timber sales now pending as a result of the 1997 plan. The lawsuit seeks to have the Tongass management plan and the six sale plans rewritten, said Tom Waldo, an attorney with Earthjustice, which is representing the six plaintiff groups...Forest Service defends effort to outsource analyst jobs Contrary to the environmental group's claims, the Forest Service has no political motives for outsourcing the work, Mills said. Rather, the agency thinks the jobs are more appropriate for private companies with flexible workforces. Right now, the federal employee analysts work for limited, two-to-four-year terms, Mills said. But even those terms can be too long, he explained, because the workload fluctuates frequently. The Forest Service is "seeking some additional clarification" of the Interior budget law, and has extended the deadline for contractor proposals by about a month, to Jan. 5, 2004, Mills said. That may be enough time to resolve the court case, he said. But he added that he is "fairly confident" the outsourcing would be legal, since the Interior budget measure is designed to provide funding and guidance for fiscal 2004...Forest OHV trails ruling to face appeal Partners in Recreation, a group of off road enthusiasts, is not happy with the recent Interface trails decision and has decided to appeal it. The Stanislaus National Forest decision announced last week by Tom Quinn, the U.S. Forest Service supervisor in Sonora, closes some Interface trails while creating some new ones...Off-road vehicles face detours The U.S. Forest Service wants to close most of Spring Mountains National Recreation Area to motorized, cross-country travel, leaving up to 70 miles of designated roads and trails open to all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, trucks and cars. The reason, according to District Ranger Steve Holdsambeck, is fast-paced growth in the Las Vegas and Pahrump valleys that is closing in on the 493-square-mile recreation area and is posing a threat to fragile species and the landscape...Lawsuit filed over Preble's mouse protection A lawsuit has been filed against the federal government over protection of a mouse that lives along stream banks in Colorado and Wyoming. The Mountain States Legal Foundation of Lakewood, Colo., a nonprofit legal center, claims a 1998 decision listing the Preble's meadow jumping mouse as threatened is based on incomplete habitat and population data. The lawsuit was filed against the Interior Department on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne...Water pact in reach The Navajo Nation, the state of New Mexico and the federal government have reached a proposed settlement over water claims. The complex 120-page settlement, announced here Friday, is the closest the parties have gotten to a resolution in their 30-year battle over water in northwestern New Mexico. It must be officially approved by the state, Congress and the Navajo tribal government. Under the settlement, the tribe agreed to a 322,000 acre-feet annual share of San Juan River water and pledged not to claim more water in the future. The tribe, in exchange, would get nearly $900 million in public works projects...Ogallala Water Quality Results Released The U.S. Geological Survey, tested the Ogallala Aquifer from Amarillo to Odessa. Water samples were taken from 48 wells in the region and tested for more than 240 constituents. Of the constituents, 10 exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recommendation for drinking water. Some of the substances found were arsenic, fluoride, nitrate, radon and sulfate. But the good news is, the levels of these substances are no reason for concern, and most of them are caused naturally in water...Wesley Clark vows to clean up air Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark, charging that President Bush cannot be trusted "with the air we breathe," promised Tuesday to clean up polluted air he blames for 30,000 premature deaths a year. The Clark environmental plan includes setting tougher standards for power plants and demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency fully implement the Clean Air Act. The retired Army general said he would restore EPA inspections and personnel, strictly enforce all EPA rules, and stiffen fines for polluters...