Environmental groups fight
new forest regulations
WASHINGTON — New regula
tions give the U.S. Forest Service
too much freedom to decide how
to manage the nation’s forests, en
vironmental groups argue in a suit
to be filed Friday.
The regulations, released by the
Clinton administration in Novem
ber, made forest health the top pri
ority for governing more than 190
million acres of federal lands. It
gave Forest Service officials the
ability to limit logging, skiing, hik
ing and other activities if they de
termined the activities could per
manently harm the ecosystem.
The Western Environmental
Law Center, which filed the law
suit on behalf of a dozen conserva
tion groups, says the regulations
are ambiguous, and it worries the
Forest Service will misuse them.
“Our basic problem is that they
give way too much discretion to
the Forest Service, and we do not
feel the Forest Service has earned
any trust over the last 20 years,”
said Marc Fink, an attorney with
the law center. “More discretion to
us means more logging.”
A Forest Service official de
clined to comment.
When the regulations were an
nounced, the Forest Service cheered
them as a needed commitment to
forest health, as well as other uses
for the forest, including logging.
“We cannot do things that could
put resources at risk,” said Agricul
ture Department Undersecretary }im
Lyons, who oversees the Forest Ser
vice. “Ecological sustainability is
the foundation upon which future
management decisions will be
made.”
Earlier this month, the Society
of American Foresters Executive
Vice President William Banzhaf
wrote Agriculture Secretary Ann
Veneman, who has oversight of the
Forest Service, recommending the
department re-examine the new
regulations.
The Associated Press
Bailey/Oliver
continued from page 1
people who live near Autzen Stadi
um. It’s pitch black walking there.
There’s lights there. They don’t
work. They need to work. And it’s
the same for everybody who lives
around campus.
Campus relations — this is huge.
This is the backbone for everything
we want to do. The relations right
now between the administration, the
city of Eugene, the police depart
ment, University Housing, Greek
Life. First of all, the people don’t talk,
and if they do talk, it’s bitter.
Student athletic tickets: Currently
the Athletic Department’s basically
.saying if we can’t pay, we’re going to
take tickets away. A lot of people care
about going to those games.
Student voice: This is basically
the same thing as campus democra
cy, but we feel the term “campus
democracy” has a bad ring to it now.
So, when decisions are made, like
[the Department of Public Safety]
commissioning officers, students
need to be involved. In addition to
that, we feel that it’s not only our job
to promote that student voice but
also to educate the people so they
can use their voice.
Education access — tuition’s
probably going to go up. The biggest
barrier to education is money. Go
ing along with that is the incidental
fee. It’s an oxymoron that they keep
raising the incidental fee, yet the
same people that raise incidental
fees say the tuition needs to go
down. If you have one going down
and one going up, it’s still not good.
We need to watch the incidental fee
more closely, and we need to make
students more aware of it because a
lot of students don’t even know
they’re paying it. It’s like paying
your taxes. You should know where
your taxes go. It’s pretty simple.
Q: How does your decision to run
fit into your ultimate career goals?
A: [Eric] My dream is to be a Unit
ed States ambassador to a Latin
American country. So I think that
would fit pretty well.
[Jeff] I feel bad saying this, but I
don’t really know what I want to do
yet. It’s just something I care about.
I’m one of those students who cares
where my money goes. I think the
experience I’ve already had with the
ASUO is going to help me down the
road.
Q: What specific campus-orient
ed initiatives will you champion?
A: Specifically, the renters’ rights
issue is pretty is a specific, laid-out
thing that’s most likely going to hap
pen in the Eugene City Council next
year. But like I said, if we become
elected, we’re two students out of
17,000 here, and I don’t think it’s
fair for us to go making a decision
for everybody. Along with that,
we’re planning on having town hall
meetings, either bi-weekly or
monthly, to hear people’s questions
and concerns.
Q: What will you advocate for on
the state level for students, and how
will you carry out your plans?
A. That’s a little tricky. We’re
working to keep tuition down and
lobbying with the state Legislature.
The tricky thing on this, though, is
they do the budget every other year.
And this being the budget year, [it
means that] while we’re in office if
we do get elected, it will not be
budget year. So it will be hard and
trickier to keep that tuition down.
But we can lay the groundwork for
the people that come after us.
Q: What is your definition of stu
dent activism?
A: Jumping right in and getting
involved. Some people think ac
tivist always means protests, but it
doesn’t necessarily need to be that.
We consider ourselves activists just
being involved in student govern
ment. Whether you’re camping out
side Johnson Hall or you’re down in
the office writing a letter to your
congressman, you’re active and try
ing to make a change.
Q: How do you define diversity?
And how do you plan on bringing to
gether the diverse voices on campus?
A: We touched on that before. All
areas need to be touched, and none
ignored, and they need to be fos
tered so we understand all the other
views. Like we said earlier, that isn’t
enough to say, “Hey, we have this
many people enrolled here now.”
So what? Are they doing anything?
Are they here speaking on behalf of
their backgrounds? Are they mak
ing a change? That’s what solving
the problem is about.
Q: If two student groups were at
odds with each other, how would
you resolve the conflict?
A: If one student group doesn’t like
another student group, maybe they
just don’t understand the position of
each. The first thing we’d do is sit
them both down in a room. We’d be
there and be the mediator. People
don’t ask why. If people asked that
question a lot more, things would be a
lot more productive.
Q: If there was one thing you
could change about the University
instantly, what would it be?
A: If we could fix relations like
that, that would be number one, be
tween everyone. And we’re both
willing to put in the time and effort.
Q: Recent history shows a tense re
lationship between the ASUO Execu
tive and University President Dave
Frohnmayer. Do you plan on improv
ing that relationship and, if so, how?
A: One example just last week is
that Eric went and sat down with
Dave just to talk about stuff. We’d be
willing to work with him on any is
sue that comes up and not fight with
him. Even if there is an issue where
we’re at odds with him, just being
able to open that door of communi
cation with him — that’s important.
The guy is the president of the Uni
versity. You have to respect him for
where he’s at.
Q: How will you carry out things
differently than current President
Jay Breslow and Vice President Hol
ly Magner?
A: Jay and Holly are good people,
they’ve done some good stuff, but
they had a disadvantage when they
went in. They liked to label them
selves the ‘new kids’ in student gov
ernment, and that was the biggest
disadvantage to them. There are
things that need to get done that are
traditionally done on time, like the
elections thing. We’re all playing
catch-up right now. We’d try to be
more on top of those things and get
them done when they need to be
done. Student government this year
has turned into the government by
the few. There’s a few opinionated
people that do stuff — if you want
to label it the people who care—but
there are a lot of other people who
care that just maybe don’t feel com
fortable coming in. This is your stu
dent government. You should al
ways be able to come in. And that
hasn’t been done this year. They’re
almost too aggressive at times, and
they scare people. It turns people
off. It turns students off too.
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