Feds investigate logging in forest

Environmentalists
complain too many trees removed.

By Michael Doyle /
Bee Washington
Bureau

11/07/07 00:02:18

WASHINGTON -- Agriculture Department investigators are in the
Giant Sequoia National Monument this week probing allegations of illegal
logging, lawmakers revealed Tuesday.
The investigators from the department's Office of Inspector General are
examining claims that the Forest Service allowed about 200 protected trees to
be chopped down in 2004 and 2005. Environmentalists contend the logging
included trees removed near the popular Trail of 100 Giants.

"They're looking to move pretty
quickly," said Jeff Lieberson, spokesman for
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. "We wanted them to take a look and see what
the real deal is."   The
investigation could reopen old wounds around the Giant Sequoia National
Monument, established by President Bill Clinton in 2000 despite some local
opposition. Critics contended the 327,769-acre monument, carved into the
existing Sequoia National Forest, would unduly cramp
important commercial and recreational activities. Monument supporters fear
loggers have continued to hold too much power even in areas meant to be
preserved. National monuments are supposed to be off limits for timber production,
but logging is allowed on national forests.

"It is the responsibility of the Forest
Service to protect the trees within the Giant Sequoia National Monument, not to
chop them down and sell them to timber companies," Hinchey said in a
prepared statement issued Tuesday.  In
a letter delivered to Capitol Hill by a courier on Monday, Inspector General
Phyllis Fong said she expected the investigation field work to be completed by
December. A formal report will be issued sometime after that.

Three investigators have been working in the
Giant Sequoia National Monument since Oct. 29, according to Sequoia National Forest
spokeswoman Mary Chislock. "We are working with
an OIG team from the San Francisco
office," Chislock said. As is customary, Forest
Service and Office of Inspector General officials declined further public
comment about the investigation while it is ongoing.

Hinchey is on the House appropriations
subcommittee that funds the Forest Service and other public land agencies. Last
month, Hinchey joined with fellow Democratic panel members Rep. James Moran of Virginia and John Olver of Massachusetts to request the inspector
general review.  The Office of
Inspector General is the Agriculture Department's law enforcement arm, as well
as its internal auditing branch. Its investigators handle both criminal and
civil matters, ranging from crop insurance fraud to logging contracts and rural
housing grants.

The three lawmakers, in turn, were responding
to complaints filed by Sequoia ForestKeeper and Save America's Forests. The environmentalists
claim that the 200-plus trees allegedly cut around the Trail of 100 Giants far
exceeded the number of hazard trees the Forest Service publicly said it needed
to remove.

"It's
essential that we get to the bottom of what went on," Save America's
Forests Director Carl Ross said Tuesday.

Forest Service officials have previously said
they had to remove all the dead and dying trees to protect hikers and campers.
No giant sequoia trees were cut.

The environmentalists further claimed that 76
of the trees -- commercially valuable sugar pines -- were sent to a nearby
Sierra Forest Products timber mill.

Sierra Forest Product officials could not be
reached to comment Tuesday, but they previously told staffers for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, that they welcome any investigation as
they did nothing wrong, according to Nunes'
legislative director, Damon Nelson. Nunes' district
includes the Sequoia
National Forest.

The reporter can be reached
at [email-masked] or (202)
383-0006.

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