California's protected sequoias 'threatened by fire-control plan'

A forest management plan to protect California's sequoia trees from wild fires has angered environmentalists, who say the Forest Service – taking its cue from the White House – is in effect inviting logging companies to profit from America's natural heritage.

The plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument – an area placed under a special protection order by President Bill Clinton – would authorise enough logging to fill 3,000 timber trucks a year. Lumber companies would be allowed to move heavy equipment into the oldest parts of the forest, fell sequoias up to 30in in diameter and clear areas as large as two acres.

"The Forest Service has made a mockery of the proclamation that established the monument," Jay Watson, regional director of The Wilderness Society, told the Los Angeles Times. "It's as if it doesn't even exist. I find that not only astonishing, but pretty darn arrogant. They're trying to shoehorn in timber management of the past and call it something different." The Sequoia National Monument, at the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, has 34 groves of giant sequoias. These, along with more groves to the north in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, comprise most of North America's sequoias.

The Forest Service says its plan is designed solely to control forest fires. Last summer, fire spread through 150,000 acres of forest near the oldest sequoias to within half a mile of the most precious groves.

Everyone agrees that the risk of catastrophic fire has increased because of excessive efforts to prevent smaller fires in the past, leading to a build-up of highly flammable brush. The environmentalists argue that forest management should help the trees, not line the pockets of government-subsidised logging companies.