Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 14, 1992 TAG: 9203140239
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's business as usual," said Jim Loesel of Roanoke, secretary of the Citizens Task Force on National Forest Management. "Every year they come up with some new excuse and say they are going to get better in the future."
Policies to reduce below-cost timber sales were offset somewhat by policies to minimize clear-cutting, Jefferson National Forest Superintendent Joy Berg said.
It's more cost effective to cut down entire sections of woodlands than to selectively harvest trees, but it's also more damaging to the environment.
The Jefferson spent $1,982,000 to administer the 1991 timber sales and collected $958,000 for a loss of $1,024,000, up about $32,000 from the previous year.
The George Washington spent $1,851,000 and collected $679,000 for a $1,172,000 loss, down about $120,000 from 1990.
The combined loss has remained fairly steady for the past five years.
Nationally, the Forest Service reported a $472 million profit from its timber program in 1991. Forests in the West generally harvest a higher percentage of valuable hardwood than forests in the East.
Timber-harvest losses by National Forests recently have attracted the attention of Congress and the public, and Forest Chief Dale Robertson has said he is preparing new guidelines for timbering.
Berg and George Washington forest spokesman W. Terry Smith said they are making steady progress in reducing costs and increasing revenue while providing timber industry jobs and tax revenue for local communities.
Berg said the Jefferson collected 34 cents for every dollar spent in the timber program in 1988, 40 cents in 1989, 44 cents in 1990 and 48 cents in 1991.
They also said many timber sales are designed to improve wildlife habitat or forest health while some harvests expand recreational trails.
"We cut timber for a variety of reasons, not just to make money," Smith said.
Berg said that when the value of side benefits are added, the program is actually broke even last year. "In the past few years we have been below benefit, so this is a significant improvement."
But Loesel said that's mainly because of changes in accounting methods rather than significant program changes.
by CNB