Bush Delays Clinton's Forest Plan

W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 5 -- A ban on road-building and most logging in athird of the country's national forests was delayed for two monthstoday by the Bush administration.

The forest plan, which President Clinton announced Jan. 4, hasbeen attacked by Republican lawmakers from Western states, and by energy,timber and mining industries.

The delay is in line with an order President Bush made on takingoffice last month to halt or slow down a series of regulations andrules that the Clinton administration issued in its final days.

The forest restrictions were published in the Federal Registerbefore Bush took office, so he can't block or alter them withoutgoing through a new rule-making process.

Today's action changes the plan's effective date from March 13to May 12.

Republicans Want to Rescind Law

The forest plan is still under review by the AgricultureDepartment, said USDA spokesman Kevin Herglotz.

Under the plan, the Forest Service will ban road-building in58.5 million acres of federal forests where no roads currentlyexist, including 9.3 million acres in the Tongass National Forestin Alaska.

The regulations also will limit future logging in those areas toactivities that "restore and preserve" the forest, althoughcommercial timber contracts already in the government pipeline willbe allowed to go through.

The chairman of the House Resources Committee, Rep. Jim Hansen,R-Utah, has appealed to Bush to work with Congress on rolling backthe plan. Hansen called the logging restrictions "one of the mostegregious abuses by the Clinton administration."

Several senators who are opposed to the plan have said they willuse a never-invoked 1996 law that allows Congress to rescind aregulation within 60 days.

The Clinton administration said the impact on the timberindustry would be minimal because there is relatively littlelogging in the roadless areas even though they account for 31percent of all federal forests.