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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 17, 1995                   TAG: 9505170073
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FOREST SERVICE SUSPENDS LOGGING IN NATIONAL FOREST

For the first time on record in the Jefferson National Forest, loggers were pulled out of the woods Tuesday because government foresters failed to properly gauge the effect on endangered species.

Robert Joslin, who took over as head of the Forest Service's regional office in Atlanta on Monday, said the action was necessary to protect endangered species in far Southwest Virginia.

``This takes some guts; it's unpopular,'' said Jim Loesel, secretary of the Roanoke-based Citizens Task Force on National Forest Management. ``It's very rare to suspend logging activities.''

Terry Porter, forestry manager for B.A. Mullican Lumber and Manufacturing Co., said the suspension of six timber sales on 459 acres in Wise County was ``rather drastic.''

``A million-dollar logging operation has come to a grinding halt,'' Porter said. Two crews with about 12 workers were one day from finishing work on one of the six areas, he said.

``It seems outside the chain of normal actions taken by the Forest Service,'' Porter said.

The action appears unprecedented since the Jefferson National Forest was established in 1936, spokesman Dave Olson said.

Some of the endangered plants and animals known to be in the area of the Clinch Ranger District are freshwater mussels and clams and two flowers, the aster and the small whorled begonia.

As Forest Service biologists moved into the Big Flat Top area on Tuesday, loggers prepared to move their equipment out of the public woodlands.

The workers had planned to move to another section of the area being logged. Instead, they likely will be out of work until Monday, at least, said Porter, whose company was involved in four of the six suspended sales.

Joslin said he could not speculate whether any of the sales might be resumed, modified or ultimately canceled.

``We apologize to the companies who brought these sales, but our credibility as land managers requires us to stop these activities,'' Joslin said. ``The public depends on us to follow our own policies and address issues when they come to our attention.'' Contractors were allowed to remove trees that were cut before Tuesday.

Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.

by CNB