President Clinton signed the Supplemental Appropriations bill which contains riders impacting the Administration's proposed roadbuilding moratorium and the Petroglyph National Monument. Clinton agreed to sign the bill after the conferees dropped a provision hurting the guaranteed student loan program. The rider will encourage but not require the Forest Service to find replacement timber sales for any sales that are delayed by the moratorium, or find money from their budget to pay the counties lost revenues. The agency's financial statements are unreliable with numerous unaccounted expenditures. GAO states that future funding for the FS should be based, in part, on its progress towards developing schedules that would lead to complete financial accountability.
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Despite the threat of invasive species that could devastate Northwest forests, the U.S. is importing increasing amounts of wood from South America and New Zealand. According to Associated Press, fast growing radiata pine from Chile and New Zealand is now being used in many mills because most of the large Ponderosa pines have been logged. Chilean entrepreneur Fernando Olave said the U.S. charges no import duties on his wood. The only trade barrier he faces is a moratorium on new U.S. import permits due to inadequate regulations to prevent the introduction of invasive species. The moratorium resulted from litigation by the Western Environmental Law Center on behalf of Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council and PERC .