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With two-thirds of Oregon county governments, including Lane County, facing financial crises, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Monday urged residents to accept modest local property tax increases and more logging on federal forests to help stave off deep cuts in county law enforcement and other critical services. Those steps are just two of 54 recommendations in a task force report delivered to the governor on Monday. Kulongoski commissioned the report last year to address the imminent loss of about $238 million in annual federal timber payments, including $47 million a year to Lane County. The top recommendation was for Oregon...

A federal appeals court has ruled the U.S. Forest Service violated federal law when it allowed logging projects without analyzing their effects on the environment. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with environmentalists who challenged a Bush administration rule that exempted certain timber sales and prescribed forest burns from environmental analysis. The Wednesday decision by the San Francisco-based court overturns a lower court ruling that favored the administration. The Sierra Club and Sierra Forest Legacy sued in 2004 challenging the Forest Service rule, which has been a key component of the Bush administration's "Healthy Forests Initiative."

Prospects are fading for a rewrite of the nation's endangered species protection law this year as key senators hesitate to move anything that would have to be meshed with legislation written last fall by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy. Some senators have expressed concern that any bill they pass, even if it gains bipartisan consensus, would still have to be blended with Pombo's aggressive rewrite. And Pombo's bill goes way too far in easing environmental protection, according to many critics. For example, Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., the chairman of a key subcommittee, has said he fears any Senate bill might be...

A Washington watchdog group has called on Congress and the IRS to investigate Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, for a laundry list of what it calls the lawmaker's ethics violations.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -- CREW -- on Thursday released a 13-count ethics complaint and a letter it sent to the Internal Revenue Service.Pombo called the charges a politically-motivated assault timed to appear just weeks before the June 6 primary election, where he has two opponents."I have never engaged in any illegal or unethical conduct whatsoever in my nearly 14-year career in the House, nor has any evidence been...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – The U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior need to develop a long-term wildfire strategy that gives Congress a better idea how much money is really needed to thin forests and where the work is needed most, the Government Accountability Office said. "While the agencies have adopted various strategy documents to address the nation's wildland fire problems, none of these documents constitutes a cohesive strategy that explicitly identifies the long-term options and related funding needed to reduce fuels in national forests and rangelands and to respond to wildland fire threats," said a GAO report made...

The Radical Right's Weakness by The Rockridge Institute The radical Right's messaging and framing infrastructure doesn't seem so fearsome if you know how to spot its weaknesses. The radical Right is acutely aware of cases where the general public has progressive values and would ordinarily reject their agenda. The Right’s approach to such cases is deception, often through the use of Orwellian language — language that means the opposite of what it says.For example, the term compassionate conservatism is used because leaders on the Right have traditionally been considered mean and lacking in empathy toward people who are needy, poor...

By MATTHEW DALY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - More than 125 scientists, including chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall and biologist Edward O. Wilson, have a signed a letter opposing the Bush administration's plan to reverse a Clinton-era ban on road building and logging in 58 million acres of remote national forests. And in a separate letter, more than 110 economists, including Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow, also oppose the plan, which would require governors to petition the federal government to block road-building in about a third of national forests where it is now prohibited. Groups circulating the letters say they show widespread...

Fire used as tool to heal forest By Jane Braxton Little -- Bee Correspondent Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 14, 2004 MINERAL - From the rim of Cinder Cone, Scott Isaacson watched fingers of fire work their way through the underbrush and trees north of Snag Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park. A pair of red fir trees burst into flames, sending spectacular orange columns through the blanket of smoke spreading slowly across the ground 500 feet below. Isaacson, Lassen Park's fire information officer, surveyed the progress of the 3,300-acre fire with approval. "This fire is a perfect tool...

If anyone can throw me a bone, I would appreciate it. My bonehead cousins in Oregon are under the impression that Bush is a tree hugger. They own and operate a logging company. I would also like to show them how Kerry would be the one against logging. Any help would be appreciated.

PENDLETON, Ore. - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) told supporters Friday that Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites), a senator from the Northeast, doesn't understand their needs. "He says he's in touch with the West. He must mean western Massachusetts," Cheney said. The vice president criticized Kerry for his position on a bill Cheney said was aimed at "keeping forests healthier and communities safer." Neither Kerry nor running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) were present for the vote. Bush signed the measure into law in December. "Sen. Kerry did not support the Healthy Forests...

Open Letter from Congressman Scott McInnis (R-CO) to Senator John Kerry Regarding His Flip-Flop on the Healthy Forest Initiative(title edited for length) Senator Kerry-During your recent campaign stops throughout the west, you have waffled in your position on the President's Healthy Forests Initiative.  At the time of passage in 2003, you made unfounded claims concerning the Administration's forest health policies.  As you said, "Bush signed the so-called 'Healthy Forests' initiative that takes a chainsaw to public forests in the name of protecting them."  Now it appears you've changed your position, emphasizing your support for many of the forest management reforms President...

ARLINGTON, VA—Gov. Bill Owens issued the following statement. "Colorado's economy has created 9,300 more jobs over the last year, causing unemployment to drop to 4.9 percent. Helped by the President's historic tax relief, Colorado's economy is strong and growing stronger. Despite all this encouraging economic news, John Kerry is talking about the Great Depression and making our state a stop on his pessimism and misery tour. "When the President signed the Healthy Forests legislation into law, Senator Kerry said that it would take 'a chainsaw to our public forests.' The Massachusetts Senator now says that he likes 'a lot of...

WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senator Jon Kyl issued the following statement: “Arizona’s economy added more than 8,400 new jobs last month and our unemployment rate has dropped below the national average to 5.1 percent. The facts show Arizona’s economy is strong and growing stronger, but John Kerry is traveling the nation on his pessimism and misery tour and talking about the Great Depression. Kerry voted against the President’s historic tax relief that is helping fuel Arizona’s economic recovery and his cynical rhetoric talking down our economy isn’t going to create any new jobs. “When President Bush signed the Healthy Forests legislation to...

"John Kerry's pessimism and misery tour ignores the reality that the President's pro-growth policies have helped create 1.4 million jobs over the past nine months." -Danny Diaz, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman 1. JOHN KERRY IS NO FRIEND OF THE MIDDLE CLASSKerry Sponsored And Voted For A Motion To Kill Marriage Penalty Relief For Couples Earning Less Than $50,000 Per Year. In 1995, Kerry voted for a resolution that said middle class tax cuts were not wise. "The sense of the Senate amendment, killed on a motion by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), said, "reducing the deficit should be one of the...

Bush budget gives Oregon extra for forests, fish The plan includes more money for thinning woodlands in the state viewed as pivotal in the 2004 election 01/29/04JIM BARNETT WASHINGTON -- With the November election looming and Oregon likely to factor as a swing state, the Bush administration is touting plans in its 2005 budget to boost spending on environmental programs it once sought to limit. The White House will release its full $2.3 trillion budget Monday. But as has been the practice in previous administrations, officials have offered the public a glimpse of proposals that might yield maximum political...

<p>President Bush yesterday signed into law the Healthy Forest Restoration Act to help prevent catastrophic wildfires, which this year killed 23 firefighters and destroyed 7 million acres.</p> <p>"We're seeing the tragic consequences brought by years of unwise forest policy," Mr. Bush said. "We face a major national challenge and we're acting together to solve the challenge."</p>

What would you do if a neighbor's tree falls on your house and causes a thousand dollars of damage? You would ask your neighbor to pay for the damage, and the law would require that he or his insurance pay the cost of the damage. Likewise, if your neighbor keeps hazardous materials on the edge of his property, such as dead trees and brush, and if they catch fire and burn down your house, you would have legal recourse. But what happens if your negligent neighbor happens to be the government? You may be out of luck because the government...

Transcript of Remarks by President Bush at the Signing of H.R. 1904, The Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 12/3/03 12:03:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: White House Press Office, 202-456-2580 WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a transcript of remarks by President Bush at the Signing of H.R. 1904, The Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003: United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 10:40 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Thanks for finally inviting me to the Department of Agriculture, it's an honor to be here. (Laughter and applause.) I'm really glad to be...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) signed legislation Wednesday that he said would help prevent "sudden and needless destruction" from wildfires like the California blazes that destroyed thousands of homes. AP Photo Related Links • Healthy Forests Restoration Act [PDF] (house.gov)   "With the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, we will help to prevent catastrophic wildfires," Bush said in a signing ceremony at the Agriculture Department. He was joined by firefighters who fought the Western blazes. "We're proud to be standing with them up here," the president said. He said wildfires had destroyed 11 million acres over the last...

<p>The multibillion- dollar cleanup from the California fires of 2003 will take years. Thousands of people must rebuild their homes and businesses. While houses can be replaced, lives and cherished mementos cannot.</p> <p>These unfortunate Californians are the victims of absentee owners: Washington, D.C.-based politicians and forestry agencies. Their loss can be the catalyst for reform. But for real reform, centralized control of forests by politicians must end.</p>