Forest Chief Leaves Over Bush Policy

[YellowSub1962]

<FONT COLOR="yellow">get your tissues out, DUMDICKS GONE!!!!</FONT c>


Forest Chief Leaves Over Bush Policy

By KATHERINE PFLEGER
.c The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) - Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck, who tangled repeatedly
with timber and mining interests during his four-year tenure, is stepping
down because of differences with the Bush administration over the agency's
future, a former senior aide says.

Dombeck could have stayed until the end of April, longer if asked. Instead,
he told his boss, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, he was resigning
effective Saturday and planned to tell the agency's leadership Tuesday.

``It was made clear in no uncertain terms that the administration wants to
take the Forest Service in another direction,'' said Chris Wood, who served
as Dombeck's top aide until Friday. But ``it is very cordial.''

A fisheries biologist by training, Dombeck, 52, took over the service in
January 1997 and reshaped it from a government agency considered to be a
friend of the timber industry to a cautious guardian of about 192 million
acres of national forests.

As chief he worked to conserve old-growth forests, expand protections for
wilderness areas and increase funding to fight wildfires and protect
communities.

Perhaps one of Dombeck's most notable initiatives, but one facing multiple
legal challenges, will be the roadless plan, a ban on road-building and
logging in 58.5 million acres of national forest lands, except in the rarest
of circumstances.

The ban originally was to have gone into effect March 13, but President Bush
postponed it until May 12 so he could review it. Timber interests had sought
a court injunction to stop the ban.

During his tenure Dombeck made enemies of some Western Republicans and the
timber and mining industries. ``His objective is to terminate harvesting in
the national forests,'' Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has said.

Last week the Interior Department, bowing to mining groups, decided to
suspend new hard-rock regulations for public lands that would have
strengthened environmental standards. The new rules were imposed on former
President Clinton's last day in office.

In departing, Dombeck wrote Veneman a six-page letter outlining 10
recommendations for the agency.

Among them:

The Bush administration should not negotiate a settlement with those opposed
to the road-building ban.

The agency should complete an inventory of old-growth forests and ensure
their conservation.

The federal government should increase funding for employees who protect
wilderness areas, an effort Dombeck expanded and raised in importance within
the agency when he made it a separate program.

On the Net:

Dombeck's biography: http://www.fs.fed.us/intro/dombeck.pdf


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<FONT COLOR="yellow">"Its a Wheelbase Thing, Your Jeep Wouldn't Understand"</FONT c>

Peter S. Di Primo
V.P. - Ventura County Axle Snappers 4WDC
www.axlesnappers.com
Yellowsub1962@aol.com

[JeepinIan]

Boo-hoo-hoo

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Ian, all the way from sunny South Florida where women are in bikinis all year long!

[Jeepskickass]

Wooo hooo!!! I was so happy when I read this! A small victory, but I'm sure the greenies are crying about it!

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www.axlesnappers.com
Jeep, yellow

[YellowSub1962]

<FONT COLOR="Yellow">I've had this for a few days but forgot to post it....enjoy</FONT c>


File Code: 1300 Date: March 27, 2001
Route To: All Employees

Subject: Message From the Chief

To: All Employees


Today I informed the National Leadership Team that I will step down as Chief
of the Forest Service on March 31, 2001. As many of you know, I grew up on
the Chequamegon National Forest in the north woods of Wisconsin, along
forest road 164. As a young boy, I made many trips up and down the West
Fork lookout tower that was in full view from our kitchen window.

I first came to work in the Chief's Office in 1987, never dreaming I would
be blessed with the opportunities of the years that followed. As perhaps
the only Chief to have actually grown up on a National Forest, and as
someone that started their career in Michigan as a GS 6 technician, I can
assure you that opportunities within the career ranks of the Forest Service
are boundless. The only constraints are those we place on ourselves.

I am proud to have played a small role in your many conservation
accomplishments over the past four years. The work that each of you do in
thousands of communities across the country is incomparably important. I
cannot begin to thank enough the hundreds of you that welcomed me into your
offices, homes, and even on occasion, secret fishing spots.

I can think of no better way to thank you all than to share again with you
the words of Gifford Pinchot from his dedication to Breaking New Ground:
"To the men and women of the Forest Service, whose courage, devotion and
intelligence have made it and kept it the best organization in the
government of the United States." Those words are as true today as ever.

As I retire from the Forest Service, my future plans include getting
reacquainted with my family and old friends, spending a lot of time in the
woods and on the water, and dedicating the rest of my life to continuing to
advocate the importance and benefits of healthy, diverse, and productive
lands and waters.

In closing, I'll offer you one last piece of advice. Through the political
and social changes that are normal in a democracy, I hope that you will
always remember the reason that you first became Forest Service employees.
Continue to advocate and teach the imperative of conservation and
restoration. Enjoy yourselves and have fun. Get out into the woods to
hunt, fish, hike, or camp, or just enjoy the wild places with your family. Share
with young people the love and respect for nature that placed you on this
conservation path. Take in the splendor of an old growth forest, a prairie
grassland, or jagged mountain. Follow your hearts and never allow your
lives to be controlled by the desk bound, those that equate a National
Forest solely to board feet or barrels of oil, and others that see only the
vistas of their computer screen or the tabular columns of their calculators
or only hear the beeps of their pagers and cell phones. Above all, allow
your commitment to your conservation ethic and the lands and waters that
sustain us to take precedence over other political or organizational
fealties.

And finally, thank you for allowing me to serve as your Chief.


/s/ Mike Dombeck

MIKE DOMBECK
Chief




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<FONT COLOR="yellow">"Its a Wheelbase Thing, Your Jeep Wouldn't Understand"</FONT c>

Peter S. Di Primo
V.P. - Ventura County Axle Snappers 4WDC
www.axlesnappers.com
Yellowsub1962@aol.com

[twn44s]

Hopefully this is a good sign.Good riddens to Mike Dombeck he has had his head stuck in his ass for a long time.The far left are so far out they have no concept of reality.

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[66CJdean]

I see this as no small victory but as a large step in the right direction. It has always pissed me off that since I enjoy Jeeping and mortorcycls I am a threat to the world. When infact it is just the opposite and maybe it is just me but it sure looks as though the people on the trail these days are much more environmentaly friendly. Maybe we feel the heat and want to set a better example or have seen a Tread Lighty sticker enough times to sink in but my point is when they put up a fence or gate to keep people out they only keep out those of us who treat the land with respect. Why is it so hard for the tree huggers to see we are on the same side just only have a different view on how to take care of the land.

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67 CJ5 stretched to 90", Custom frame, SOA, dakota springs, RC60's, 5.13 ARB's, all cut-up 39.5 TSL's