Release No. 0629.96
                                                               
                            Jim Petterson  (202) 720-4623 - USDA
                            Scott Smullen  (301) 713-2370 - NMFS
                           Stephanie Hanna (202) 208-6416 - DOI
                                                               
ADMINISTRATION RELEASES REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED UNDER SALVAGE RIDER

     Washington, Dec. 6, 1996--The Clinton Administration today released an
interagency review of salvage logging activities conducted under the
"emergency salvage rider," aprovision of the 1995 Omnibus Appropriations and
Rescissions Act (P.L. 104-19).

     In the report, the review team presented a series of findings and
recommendations that will serve as a framework for improving collaboration
among federal agencies responsible for public land management.

     The salvage rider, also known as Section 2001 of the 1995 Omnibus
Appropriations and Rescissions Act, broadened the definition of salvage sales,
eliminated administrative appeals of such sales by the public, restricted
judicial review and, in effect, temporarily suspended environmental and
natural resource laws that would otherwise apply to such sales.

     The review, conducted this summer, was completed by an interagency team
evaluated how well the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and
Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency and National Marine
Fisheries Service were following the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
created to guide implementation of the salvage rider.   
     
     The MOA was created at the direction of President Clinton who was
concerned about the rider's potential for environmental threat to public
lands.  It was designed to build upon on-going efforts to streamline
procedures for environmental analysis and interagency consultation and
cooperation.  President Clinton also directed the agencies to use the
authority in the salvage rider to continue following environmental laws in the
preparation and sale of salvage timber, to the extent allowed under the rider.

     The review team found the agency collaboration called for in the MOA was
working well in some places, yet still evolving in others.  Overall, the team
found that the MOA provided a basis to further the Administration's efforts
for improving interagency collaboration.  The most significant action the
agencies should take, the team found, is to reinforce, extend and expand
interagency collaborative efforts.

     Other key findings from the review team's report include: 

    The salvage rider had a negative effect on preexisting efforts to
     improve collaboration among agencies; 


    The involvement of the FWS and NMFS in salvage sale planning added to,
     rather than duplicated, the efforts of the Forest Service and BLM
     regarding compliance with the Endangered Species Act; 

    There has not been sufficient oversight and accountability within the
     agencies regarding logging under the terms of the salvage rider;

    Interpretations and application of the definition of salvage were not
     uniform across national forests and BLM districts; 

    There is confusion within and among agencies about the qualities and
     conditions of trees which can be included in salvage sales under the
     rider; 

    The rider's elimination of many existing opportunities for public input
     to the salvage sale process generated a significant level of public
     controversy.  Agencies should provide increased opportunities for public
     involvement in salvage sale planning processes.

    There are gaps in the quality of the monitoring done to ensure that
     salvage sale activities are environmentally sound;

    Current budgeting processes within the BLM and Forest Service act as an
     incentive for field units to resort to salvage logging to generate money
     to pay for forest health projects, even when other projects may be more
     appropriate; and  

    Strong leadership needs to be asserted at all organizational levels to
     ensure collaboration occurs as envisioned in the MOA.

     The team that produced the salvage review report has been assigned to
develop an action plan to guide implementation of  appropriate recommendations
from the report.  A draft of the action plan is due in February.

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