Though hard-core environmentalists are likely to view any concession as a defeat, both sides could benefit from a compromise. According to Neil Sampson of the American Forestry Association, the targeted areas to the east are a potential tinderbox that needs selective thinning and logging. Environmentalists have for years been using the spotted owl as a mascot in their fight to protect the threatened ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest; getting the loggers to move on would be an important victory. Just last month a federal appeals court ordered a probe into whether the Bush administration improperly pressured the cabinet-level Endangered Species Committee, or “God Squad,” to allow timber sales in Oregon. Meanwhile, the summit-as well as the advance team headed to Oregon this week-sends the message that Clinton gives a hoot.
