A new owl plan with the same old goal: more logging

The new Northern Spotted Owl recovery plan could be worse, but the Bush administration hasn't given up on cutting a billion board feet a year in Northwest forests.

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Sausage Links, cougar-hunting edition

Praise the Lord and release the hounds — because our good state Legislature has enacted a law which makes it legal once again to use dogs to hunt cougars. Now, I didn't even know cougar hunting was legal in Washington — minus Cougars wearing crimson — but apparently, it is. While the bill was actually passed by the Legislature in February, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting on Friday to discuss whether the pilot program should continue for another three years.

Meanwhile, Micheal Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has compiled a list of some other curious laws enacted by the Washington Legislature this year. My personal favorite: Violators may face up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail for selling raw or unprocessed huckleberries without a permit.

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Sausage Links, tree-cutting edition

Timber! The Seattle Times has a series of special reports about the lack of oversight in the logging industry and the cost to state taxpayers. According to the report, no one checked when Weyerhaeuser started clear-cutting unstable slopes, some of which eventually slid and cost millions of dollars to clean up. Naturally, David Goldstein at Horse's Ass blames Republican-led deregulation. ...

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Conservation groups buy pieces of Montana — a lot of pieces

The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land are buying 500 square miles of western Montana from Plum Creek, the timber real estate investment trust, for $510 million. It involves a federal financing mechanism, to the consternation of conservatives, and compromise, to the displeasure of some environmentalists. But it is preventing development of forest habitat.

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When animals attack, and also when they don't

It's the time of year when animal-human encounters are on the rise. Bears are picnicking on hikers, moose are invading trailer parks, and muskrats are blamed for destroying entire towns. You could be next.

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Wilderness redefined

Wild Sky in Washington's Cascades is just one of a number of areas designated for protection that are not, in the strictest sense, primeval environment. But they are wild, and in modern times they're worth preserving, say environmentalists — even if unprecedented compromise is necessary.

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Wanna rent a ranger station?

America's national forests are in the middle of a "heritage" crisis as historic structures fall victim to budget cuts, vandalism, and neglect. Northwest forests are not immune, but citizens can help. How about vacationing in a fire lookout this summer?

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A plea bargain douses the scandal of the Thirtymile Fire

The darkest moment in U.S. Forest Service history won't be told — not to a jury, anyway.

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A beleaguered Forest Service cancels reorganization

The once mighty Forest Service has fallen on hard times in recent decades, ever since the downturn in the timber industry, from which much of its budget and clout derived, and it has been hit by accusations of shoddy science under the Bush administration. The latest chastening arrived this week: According to an agency memo released by the whistleblower group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Forest Service is quietly shelving an ambitious plan to restructure its operations, conceived as part of Bush administration efforts to outsource government functions to the private sector.

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Timber thefts in your own backyard

Mossback has begged for some Old Testament-style whuppin's for timber thieves, like the one who cut a grove of 700-year-old cedars in Wenatchee National Forest. While harsh punishments are elusive — as are the tree pirates — concerns about timber theft are growing, according to a story in the Jan. 20 New York Times.

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Old Testament punishment for timber thieves, please

The Northwest is no stranger to timber theft, but a case that raised a lot of eyebrows was the recent plea-bargain of a Camano Island man who pled guilty to a federal theft charge for cutting down 27 old-growth cedars in an isolated part of Wenatchee National Forest. The trees were between 400 and 700 years old. Unfortunately, the logger faces a sentence that's much shorter than the damage he's done.

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Wheat-country blues in Washington's least-populous county

Walla Walla might be flush with the grape, but just down the road the juice runs out in Pomeroy, Wash. It's the land that agri-tourism forgot — or hasn't found yet. Whiskey, anyone?

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Larry Craig: the last of the 'servants of the lords of yesterday'

Environmentalists argue that the disgraced Idaho senator represents a constituency that has declined in importance in the minds of voters — the legacy timber, grazing, and mining interests. Says one: "Now Idaho's a different place."

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With 'nature-deficit disorder,' the decline of traditional summer camps

Hidden Valley Camp, a Northwest institution, is concerned about the future of old-school summer camps, and they're not alone. Some experts worry that a younger generation is disconnected from nature. It might be time to unplan — and unplug — the kids.

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How they drew lines in the Northwest's forests

An environmental historian traces the century-long evolution of a government-managed patchwork in the Cascades. In the end, designating wilderness areas was as much about cutting down trees as preserving them.

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An Oregon library system considers outsourcing to balance the books

It's come to this: With federal timber dollars pretty much burned up and people concerned with basic issues like law enforcement, a company in Maryland is one option for reopening library branches in rural Oregon.

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Still in decline, the spotted owl is back in the political spotlight

Old growth forests were partially preserved, but the northern spotted owl has disappeared faster than anyone thought. The old fights are breaking out again, with the Bush administration pressuring scientists to pin the blame on a non-native predator, the barred owl, and to open up more forests for logging.

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