Fighting the "wilderness grab"

Bronson J. Lewiq exec. vp., Ameri' can Plywood Assn., Tacoma, Wash., said that the softwood plywood in' dustry "fully supports the action of Washington State Attorney General Slade Gorton in drawing attention to the threat to the state's economy posed by current litigation in Federal Dis' trict Court."

He was referring to an announce' ment that the State of Washington has entered a motion to intervene in a case brought by the Sierra Club against U.S. Agriculture Secretary Earl L. Butz in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

This nronth. the U.S. District C-ourt in San Francisco will take up again a temporarily postponed injunction in favor of the Sierra Club prohibiting logging operations on a total of approximately 40 million acres throughout the nation. OI the total, 3,262,000 acres in Washington State are subject to the injunction.

Noting that Gorton had warned of a "direct and immediate financial impact on the State of Washington" if rwenue-producing activities in the 3,262,000 acres are halted for any substantial period of time, Lewis said that the logging ban now in efiect "represents an immediate threat to the many Washington communities where

Ihal's How lf Ooed

wood products manufacturing is the mainstay of the economy."

According to estimates based upon data provided by the U.S. Forest Service, revenues to the counties for schools and road building for the acres in question in fiscal year 1973 would be in excess of $1.5 million. In its motion to intervene in the Sierra

Club suit, the State of Washington lists the amount of timber previously scheduled to have been sold in fiscal 1973 by the Forest Sen'ice, on 13,500 acres of Natioinal Forest lands in Washington covered by the preliminary injunction, at approximately 24O million board feet.

Lewis commented that 24O million board feet of timber "re.presents the total annual wood requirement for eight pl1'wood mills." He added that the Forest Service has stated that it cannot replace the 240 million board feet from any other source.