Salvage Logging in the Court

The plan effects nearly 25 million acres of federal land in the Pacific Northwest. Starting in May 1994, it designated certain areas off-limits to logging, especially where sensitive habitats of threatened and endangered species exist.

It also limited timber sales to only 25 percent of the levels allowed during the 1980's. Dwyer said the management plan was "designed to bring some much-needed coherence to the management of federal forests in the Pacific Northwest."

Many environmental groups said the plan authorizes excessive logging with little consideration of environmental laws, while timber representatives said it didn't allow enough logging.

Tim Hermach, director of the Native Forest Council in Eugene, Ore., one of the groups that filed the suit, said the Clinton forest management plan does not "save one acre or one tree" in the old-growth national forests.

"The American people have the right to a healthy, sustainable environment," Hermach said, "but we are deciding to leave nothing for our grandchildren."

But the court ruled that the government satisfied its obligations to meet environmental standards and wildlife protection measures in approving the plan.

Left standing was the portion of the salvage logging rider that requires forest managers in Oregon and Washington to release all timber sales that were previously blocked because of possible violations of environmental laws. Judge Dwyer, while encouraging both sides to discuss it, never mentioned the rider in his decision.

It is unclear, however, even to lawyers for both sides, what impact a number of recent court rulings will have on the salvage rider.

"There is a tangle of court decisions that make it a bit tricky to figure out how they impact other decisions," Arthur said.