WASHINGTON — Back in the 1980s, when conservation advocates were
trying to stop logging in old-growth forests in the Pacific
Northwest, they relied on a 1982 regulation that required the
National Forest Service to protect wildlife such as the spotted
owl throughout its range. They won, and a new Northwest forest
plan in 1990 greatly reduced logging in the region's old-growth
forests on federal land. Now the national planning rule that
governs individual national forest plans is about to change, for
the first time since the Reagan era. Scientists and
environmentalists say many of the changes are improvements, but
they object to a key change in the way the plan would protect
wildlife. That part of the plan always has been controversial.
The timber industry opposes it. Conservationists say it was
vital to winning protection for old-growth forests. Now some
ecologists and advocates say the Forest Service plan's change on
this point would punch a hole through key protections. The plan,
which covers all uses of for