Attorneys and other authorities following an Oregon federal appeals court ruling involving environmental regulation of forest roads think the U.S. Supreme Court will announce by early summer if will consider an appeal of the case. The Oregon decision, if not overturned by the nation’s highest court, would treat water run-off from forest roads as potential point-source pollution and subject to permit requirements by the Environmental Protection Agency or state agencies under its oversight.

As it now stands, the Oregon decision would apply initially to the Northwestern states and Alaska. But it is a source of enormous concern to forestland owners and the forest industry throughout the U.S. There is no assurance that the Supreme Court will consider the appeal and is expected to make known its intention in the case by early summer.

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The Softwood Lumber Agreement, which limits Canadian lumber shipments to the United States when demand and prices are weak as they currently are, has been extended three years beyond its original expiration date of 2013.  Reached in 2006 after years of sometimes bitter negotiations, the agreement had been set to expire in 2013.  No changes to the basic agreement were made by the extension.

The U.S. Lumber Coalition, a Washington lobbying group representing lumber producers and generally supported by timber growers, endorsed the extension but continues to have problems with enforcement of SLA.  “…we support extension of the agreement with the expectation that Canada will improve its record of compliance,” said Steve Swanson, chairman of the Coalition and an Oregon lumber manufacturer.

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