The Coalition (of which the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is a member) had prepared a bill which, had it been enacted into law, would have improved the way the timbering industry is regulated. Under present law, there are standards which timber companies in theory have to meet. The enforcement system is so flawed, however, that in actual practice the standards are voluntary. Companies are free to follow them if they wish; if they don't wish to it is unlikely that anything will happen to them.

The bill would have changed the enforcement system so that there were built in incentives such as fines to comply. It would also have addressed the problem of timber theft by requiring notification of adjoining landowners. The bill did not make dramatic changes in the performance standards a timber company would have to meet. A responsible company could continue doing substantially what it was doing under present law. The bill would have forced the entire logging industry to move toward the practices now used by only its most responsible members.

At least in part because of the bill’s cautious approach, it received substantial support in the state senate where it was introduced. When it became clear that the votes were not there to pass it (at least not this year) there was talk of a resolution to study the issue during the summer interim sessions. While no formal resolution passed to require the study of the issue, the Coalition is confident that the topic will be on the agenda for the interim sessions.

In the world we live in, this is progress. Two years ago there was no timbering initiative. Last year a bill was introduced near the end of the session and made little progress. This year a bill was introduced and widely talked about, including being talked about by Senators who are not our traditional allies.

In a world where much of our energy is spent trying to prevent the law from getting worse, for something a coalition of conservation groups initiated to make this slow but steady progress is encouraging.