FW: [NFPA] FW: SFChron: USFS hired PR firm to sell log plan

$90k for spin from the same guys who claim lack of resources for
restoration work.   This is a remarkable story, for many reasons.  Don't
stop reading just because of the geographic aspect of it.

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Bryan Bird
Sent: March 10, 2004 9:02 AM
To: NoCutNews
Subject: [NFPA] FW: SFChron: USFS hired PR firm to sell log plan




http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/0
3/10
/BAG295HLG71.DTL


 SIERRA NEVADA
 Forest Service hired PR firm to sell log plan
 Memo urged keeping details under wraps


 Glen Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer

 A San Francisco public relations firm hired to help the U.S. Forest
Service sell its controversial logging plan for the Sierra Nevada urged
the agency to keep details of its promotional plan hidden from the
public,  a memo shows.


 The Forest Service's hiring of a public relations firm to promote its
forestry plan is unusual, if not unprecedented, in the history of the
agency. The Forest Service paid the firm, OneWorld Communications, about
$90,000 to handle the plan's Jan. 22 unveiling.


 The Sierra Nevada forest management plan is the focus of intense
controversy between timber interests and environmental groups. The plan
will triple the commercial timber harvest in the Sierra Nevada and
result  in the cutting of larger trees.


 In its memo to the Forest Service, OneWorld emphasized that "perception
is  king," and it urged the agency to simplify the elements of the plan
into  one clear message: Wildfire hazard reduction around small
communities.  OneWorld also suggested a catchy slogan for the plan:
Forests With a  Future.


 The Forest Service adopted the slogan and other key suggestions
outlined  in the memo.


 The memo also urged the Forest Service to keep details of the
promotional  plan confidential because "members of the public who are
not professionals  in public relations and marketing might misinterpret
certain ideas or  concepts." Indeed, agency officials had not discussed
the plan until now.


 The plan, sponsored by Jack Blackwell, the Forest Service's California
supervisor, supersedes an earlier plan adopted by the Clinton
administration that emphasized preserving old growth habitats and using
prescription fire to reduce excess forest fuels.


 Environmentalists oppose the new plan because it will greatly increase
the  amount of selective logging in the Sierra.


 A copy of the OneWorld memo was given to The Chronicle by Craig Thomas,
director of the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign. Thomas said he
had been mailed a copy of the memo by an anonymous Forest Service
official.


 "They can't defend their work, so they had to hire a bunch of spin
doctors  to do it," Thomas said. "They've chosen to mislead the public.
The  majority of fire scientists say the plan has it all wrong -- that
the way  to reduce fire danger in the Sierra is to remove brush and
woody debris on  the forest floor -- not big trees."


 Matt Mathes, a spokesman for the Forest Service, acknowledged that the
agency's use of a public relations company was "something new for us,
but  we don't really look at it as a marketing plan. We're so concerned
about  the consequences of wildfire to human life, property and wildlife
in the  Sierra Nevada that we decided to work with a contractor to
create greater  public awareness."


 Forest Service officials can sound bureaucratic and overly technical
when  presenting a complex issue, Mathes said. "We needed to get to
plain  language," he said. "We felt a fresh look would help us better
convey the  enormous dangers California faces if our current inability
to effectively  reduce forest fuels continues."


 But Jay Watson, director of the wildland fire program for the
Wilderness  Society, said the agency's use of a public relations firm
was unsettling.


 "True, the service uses outside contractors to help with technical
issues  such as environmental impact reports,'' he said. "But there's a
fundamental difference between technical work and the rollout of a slick
public relations campaign. It speaks volumes on how controversial this
plan is."


 Thomas accused the Forest Service of trying to hide the OneWorld memo.
He  had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for details on
expenditures  related to the Sierra plan but did not receive the memo as
part of the  agency's disclosures.


 "The fact that they didn't include it seems like a clear violation of
the  (Freedom of Information) act," Thomas said. "The act only exempts
certain  sensitive or personal information, and this memo doesn't fall
within those  guidelines."


 Mathes said the agency hadn't sent Thomas a copy of the memo because it
was not a work plan as defined by the statute, but "merely their
 (OneWorld's) response to our proposals."


 E-mail Glen Martin at [email protected]








*************************************************************
Posts: <mailto:[email protected]>
Subscribe--send request to: <mailto:[email protected]> Subscribe
or switch to Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
List Service by the Wild Rockies InfoNet: http://www.wildrockies.org/

_______________________________________________
heads mailing list
[email protected]
http://ballistichelmet.org/mailman/listinfo/heads/
http://ballistichelmet.org/donate/