LESS TIMBER TO BE FALLING IN THE NEXT DECADE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993                   TAG: 9301230182
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
LESS TIMBER TO BE FALLING IN THE NEXT DECADE
The U.S. Forest Service has approved a 10-year management plan for the George Washington National Forest that reduces timber harvesting and provides for large areas of unfragmented woodlands.
"We are very proud of this plan; we are protecting the resource, yet we are providing a mix of goods and services," W. Terry Smith, spokesman for the George Washington National Forest, said Friday.
The plan signed Thursday by Regional Forester John Alcock in Atlanta permits 33 million board feet of timber to be taken from the public forest every year. That's an increase from 27 million board feet proposed in a draft plan released in January 1992.
"They moved in the wrong direction," said Jim Loesel of the Citizens Task Force on National Forest Management. "I was expecting them to reduce the amount of timber harvesting and suitable acres to be more consistent with the biodiversity theme."
The Appalachian Forest Management Group, mostly comprised of timber companies, wanted the timber harvest nearly doubled from the draft plan.
Under an interim land and resources management plan now in effect, timber companies can harvest 38 million board feet of timber. The 1986 plan allowed for 49 million board feet annually.
The acreage classified as suitable for timber harvesting, 350,000 acres, also is up from 259,000 proposed in the draft plan. But it is less than half the acreage included in the 1986 plan.
The final plan for managing the national forest, which covers 1.1 million acres across 13 counties in Western Virginia and four counties in eastern West Virginia, will take effect in about 30 days. There will be a public hearing at Ingleside Red Carpet Inn in Staunton on Jan. 29.
More than half of the forest is managed for wildlife and the use of clearcutting - removing all trees within a given area - is highly restricted, Smith said. Eleven recreation sites are scheduled for rehabilitation and expansion and 15 new recreation sites are scheduled to be constructed.
The plan is a hybrid from more than a dozen alternatives developed during two years of public hearings.
The 1986 plan was killed in 1989 by Forest Service Chief W. Dale Robertson after a series of protests. Robertson said the public played too small a role in preparing the '86 plan.
During the past two years, the national forest hosted 13 public hearings and numerous conferences to discuss the management plan.
"That valuable input is obvious in the final plan," forest Supervisor Wayne Kelly said.
The national forest received about 4,200 letters during a 90-day public comment period, ranging from technical reviews by state and federal agencies to fervent appeals from environmental groups.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB