U.S. to Triple Logging in Sierra : "The Forest Service, which oversees 11.5 million acres of national forestland in the Sierra, signaled at the start of the Bush administration that it was unhappy with a stringent and complex set of environmental regulations adopted just before President Clinton left office.

The latest plan officially drops many of those restrictions, permitting not only the removal of far more trees but cutting ones as large as 30 inches in diameter in old-growth stands. It also loosens habitat protections for rare species such as the California spotted owl, Yosemite toad, Pacific fisher and willow flycatcher."