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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/swap09.shtml

Eager for land deal, feds missed rare birds

Forest swap failed after Plum Creek found nests

Monday, August 9, 1999

By ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

There is a good reason the U.S. government did not know about rare, protected birds nesting in publicly owned
old-growth forest about to be traded to a timber company: No one from the government looked for them.

In fact, a U.S. Forest Service supervisor preparing the land swap proposed in a memorandum that all checks for
protected plants and animals be "minimized to the extent possible" so the deal could move forward quickly.

In all, records show, when government researchers did go out into the woods, they looked for only 17 of the
hundreds of animals that live there. They did not conduct searches for animals protected under the Endangered
Species Act, which, it turns out, is legal.

Researchers tramped across about 2,800 acres looking for 17 types of mollusks, salamanders, bats and a type of
owl, records show. The land swap involves about 25 square miles of government land and about 76 square miles
owned by Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Co. It would represent one of the largest land swaps in state history.

"Because of the scope of this, there was (wildlife survey) work done, but not for every parcel," said Bill Noble, a
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who worked on the land swap and believes it will be a good thing for
endangered animals. He said biologists worked long hours and on weekends, with little sleep, to meet a
congressionally imposed deadline.

"It's been difficult to do the required analysis in these tight time frames," Noble said.

Just weeks before the government and Plum Creek were to exchange deeds after years of negotiation, Plum
Creek sent its own biologists onto government land. Using sophisticated radar equipment in remote country about
40 miles east of Tacoma, they located several nests of marbled murrelets, a species protected by the Endangered
Species Act.

That find put the whole deal on ice. The timber company doesn't want land with protected species on it because it
can't cut all the timber there.

Now federal taxpayers may have to pay Plum Creek an extra $8 million or so in compensation.

Before the murrelet discovery, the government was set to get $79 million worth of mostly high, dry Plum Creek
land primarily on the scenic east side of the Cascades.

In exchange, the timber company would get about $78 million worth of land, much of it prime timberland on the
wetter and more productive west side of the mountains.

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Government biologists say heading off logging of the land now in Plum Creek ownership along Interstate 90 east
of Seattle is crucial to the continued existence of a number of endangered species. The landscape already is a
mishmash of man-made intrusions, including I-90, ski lodges and clearcuts.

By preserving as much forest as possible in a natural state, the real estate swap would make it more likely that
populations of animals from the northern Cascade Mountains will be able to hook up with their species to the
south. That would keep their genetic stock healthier, prevent inbreeding and help improve their chances for
long-term survival, government biologists say.

"This is an area that we know is pivotal," said Noble, of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "In some areas, lands will
be traded out of federal ownership that are very valuable, locally. But what we get into federal ownership are
benefits that are regional."

Critics, including some environmentalists, do not dispute the need to maintain animal pathways along the Cascades
by preventing Plum Creek from cutting timber along I-90.

But, critics say, the government does not know enough about what it is trading away. That land may prove
biologically valuable, too, they say.

"If you're not going to be able to ensure you're not going to destroy endangered species habitat, then I guess we
ought not to do the land exchange," said Janine Blaeloch of the Western Land Exchange Project, a leading
opponent of the deal. "And the same thing goes for the timber sales."

Last week, U.S. District Judge William Dwyer rapped the Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management for actions that parallel the Forest Service's limited search for protected animals for the land
exchange.

In a strongly worded opinion that halted nine federal timber sales and put about 200 others in jeopardy, the judge
criticized the Forest Service for failing to look carefully enough for protected plants and animals before taking bids
from timber companies.

In the case of the land exchange, such scouting missions are not legally required because swapping land deeds is
not a "ground-disturbing activity," such as cutting timber.

Still, "It's a well-known fact that the reason the timber company wants the land is to go cut down the trees," said
Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, which sued to stop the timber sales.

The government says it did not look for endangered and threatened animals or plants because it was leaving that to
the timber company.

"It was our job because we couldn't wait for the Fish and Wildlife Service to do the survey because it would take
years," said Lorin Hicks, director of fish and wildlife resources for the timber company. "The government wasn't
going to find this out any other way because they weren't going to look."

Robert Jirsa, a spokesman for Plum Creek, said the Forest Service is often limited in how much it can do because
of budget constraints.

"It just seems like we do the job better when we do it ourselves," Jirsa said.

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Time also was short.

A March 1997 memo by Sonny O'Neal, supervisor of the Wenatchee National Forest and a prime coordinator of
the exchange, explored how to do the wildlife surveys as quickly as possible, given Plum Creek's desire for fast
approval.

"The fast-track process for this exchange raises immediate questions about the ability to meet the (Northwest
Forest Plan) requirements and existing laws," O'Neal wrote. ". . . There is a compelling need to streamline
protocols and explore other time-saving, cost-effective, and efficient ways of dealing with these species."

Glenn Hoffman, a Forest Service planner, said researchers identified the kinds of land most likely to shelter rare
plants and animals and concentrated efforts there.

Rather than finding out where several endangered animals lived, rec

ords show, scientists concentrated on somewhat more plentiful animals that are still considered important to the
health of the forest, but which would lose all protection once the land was transferred from government hands to
the timber company.

"The idea was to try to identify what were the highest likely priority sites. A certain amount of those were
surveyed," Hoffman said.

P-I reporter Robert McClure can be reached at 206-448-8092 or robertmcclure@seattle-pi.com

© 1998-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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