Congress in the late 1990s loaded appropriations bills with anti-environmental riders. Their strategy, as well as that of their cohorts, has been to obscure these environmental sores inside large pieces of legislation. With the ascendancy of a Democratic U.S. Senate in 2001, their influence, while still substantial, has waned. State trends . There are trends within the timber industry which justify vigilance.
Loggers remain unregulated and are supposed to adhere to voluntary best management practices.
The state's Division of Forestry, charged with overseeing loggers, is oriented toward production . In 1997 a position in the state's Development Office was created to promote growth of the wood products industry. Yet, little overall long-term forest planning exists in state government. Between 1987 and 1994 timber harvested every year doubled to more than one billion board feet and production is expected to increase. Between 1992 and 1999 timber companies targeted more than two million acres for logging, which is about 13 percent of the land in West Virginia.