Word: dombeck
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Most people see either the forest or the trees. Michael Dombeck sees logging roads and mining pits--and as head of the U.S. Forest Service, he's in a position to do something about them. Last week Dombeck called for a moratorium on new mining claims on hundreds of thousands of acres of Rocky Mountain forest, and this week he is expected to halt road building on millions more acres of federal land. "Our performance should be based on the long-term health of the land," Dombeck says, "rather than the number of board feet produced...
That may sound reasonable, but it represents a dramatic reversal for an agency that has been so closely aligned with industry that it was known for years as the "U.S. Timber Service." The Clinton Administration, determined that the service turn over a new leaf, appointed Dombeck in 1997. Now he is the point man for a set of contentious land-management issues that will only get hotter as the 2000 presidential election--and the environmentalist candidacy of Al Gore--gets closer...
Efforts by U.S. Forest Service chief MIKE DOMBECK to disentangle the USFS from the timber industry have provoked a fight with Congress. Republicans are so angry with Dombeck for hampering logging that on Thursday, in an unusual joint hearing, the House Resources, Budget and Appropriations committees will question Dombeck in what is likely to be a scorching job review. Convinced that tree cutting should no longer take priority over conservation and recreation, Dombeck, a former backwoods guide turned scientist, increased restrictions on logging. In his most significant step, he proposed halting construction of new roads in most of the national...