PHOENIX GAZETTE December 6, 1994 By Michael Murphy Report: Forest Service disrupted owl research to assist big timber U.S. Forest Service managers have hampered efforts to protect the Mexican spotted owl in Arizona and New Mexico by making inappropriate demands for timber harvests, an independent consultant claims. Hired by the Forest Service last year, Virginia-based Laurence Jahn also said the Forest Service ostracized an agency biologist who spoke out about harmful effects of logging. The biologist, the report said, was the subject to a government investigation into his past "with the reported objective being to discredit him as incompetent or unobjective." "That objective was not fulfilled," Jahn wrote. His findings were made in a February report on conservationists' allegations of mismanagement of national forests in Arizona and New Mexico. Regional Forest Service chief Jack Ward Thomas has refused to release the entire report, but recently provided a See OWL, Page A7 OWL From A1 heavily censored copy to an environmental attorney under the Freedom of Information Act. Portions of the report appear to that Forest Service managers in Arizona and New Mexico have sought to scuttle efforts to protect the spotted owl. Jahn said that despite concerns about the owls' population in Arizona and New Mexico, the Forest Service in 1991 disrupted attempts to reach a conservation strategy for the owl by demanding a timber quota be part of the plan. "This level of timber harvest was reported to be inconsistent with the charge to develop a scientifically credible conservation strategy, as well as the Forest Service's standards and guidelines for forest management," Jahn wrote, adding: "In addition to making inappropriate demands for timber harvest, the Forest Service terminated Mexican spotted owl studies on the Gila National Forest by threatening the researchers with arrest for lack of a research permit." Facing a court order, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week proposed a plan to protect the owl, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, by designating 4.8 million acres of mostly federal land in Arizona and New Mexico as critical habitat. Conservationists fear, however, that federal agencies are attempting to circumvent the federal court order to establish critical habitat, which likely would lead to dramatic reductions in timber harvests in Arizona and New Mexico. "If you look at their behavior in the management of public lands, in terms of their respect for science and honesty, nothing's changed," said Robin Silver of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. Silver called the Jahn report the tip of the iceberg, saying portions censored by government attorneys "must be even more damaging to the Forest Service." A Forest Service spokeswoman said Monday that Thomas was unavailable for comment. "He's maintained that (the consultant's study) is a personnel report, and we don't comment on personnel reports," said Carolyn Bye, public affairs officer for the agency's Southwestern region. Two months after Jahn issued the report, the top-ranking Forest Service-official for Arizona and New Mexico unexpectedly retired. Larry Henson had been accused of being too friendly to the timber industry, but denied allegations of mismanagement. His response to the Jahn report also was heavily censored. The report confirms conservationists' claims that the government attempted to intimidate a Forest Service biologist who was studying the habitat of the northern goshawk. Like the spotted owl, protection of the goshawk has led to dramatic reductions in timber harvests in the two states. The biologist, Cole Crocker-Bedford, published a report on the goshawk in a 1990 Wildlife Society magazine that warned that timber harvests in Arizona and New Mexico could cause a substantial decline in nesting pairs of the raptor, considered an "indicator" species by biologists. Even though the article drew widespread praise, the Forest Service launched an aggressive campaign to discredit his research, Jahn said. Among other things, the biologist faced a two-day "adversarial cross-examination" by Justice Department and timber industry attorneys. He also was "subjected to legal and administrative pressures, and his competence and study were questioned by Forest Service spokespersons before public audiences," Jahn wrote, "Yet, Cole Crocker-Bedford was ordered by the Forest Service, with threat of reprisal, to remain silent." Crocker-Bedford, now working with the Forest Service in Alaska, said in a phone interview that the agency "was sending a message to other people not to do the same." "It made me feel pretty horrible," he said. "I felt harassed, but harassment is in the eyes of the beholder."
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