Forest Service to shut down logging operations on 150 forests

The U.S. Forest Service confirmed it is shutting down logging operations on national forests across the country due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. The agency plans to notify 450 timber purchasers across the country early next week that timber sales and stewardship contracts will be suspended, Forest Service spokesman Leo Kay said in an email. Tom Partin, president of the timber industry group America Forest Resource Council, said he got word that the agency would be posting details of the shutdown on a White House website on Monday. The Forest Service will be contacting each logging company in writing to tell them how to close down operations. In general, loggers will have seven days to finish cutting and hauling out logs on timber sales where they are already working. The shutdown comes as loggers typically look forward to one more month of work before winter weather makes conditions tougher. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said the shutdown was another reason the Senate should join the House in passing legislation to increase logging on national forests, in part by putting them under local control. That bill has passed the House but is considered unlikely to pass the Senate...more