Joined
·
11,423 Posts
<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
------------------
<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
[email protected]
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
------------------
<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
[email protected]
