U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., has introduced a bill to encourage cooperation between Wyoming and the U.S. Forest Service on forest health projects on private, state and federal lands.

Conservation groups say the measure would constitute a gift to timber companies and turn management of national forests in Wyoming over to the state forester.

According to Barrasso's office, the "Wyoming Forest and Watershed Restoration Act of 2007" would establish a comprehensive management policy to go forward with forest health projects.

In introducing the bill, Barrasso noted th{M3ere are more than 9 million acres of national forest lands in Wyoming. And a bark beetle epidemic could grow to cover about a third of those forests in the next few years, according to a Forest Service analysis.

"We have tens of thousands of acres of forests that are being killed by bark beetles," Barrasso said. "We can stem the spread of this infestation and save our forests with quick action. But that kind of response will take coordinated management among all partners - private, state and federal. This legislation can deliver those results."

Not so, according to Suzanne Lewis of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, based in Laramie.

"Senator Barrasso is trying to stop the spread of bark beetles in our forests, but there is no tool in the toolbox which can stop the beetles, and the Forest Service has admitted this," she said. "The Rocky Mountain regional office of the Forest Service has proclaimed that salvage logging does not stop or even slow the spread of bark beetles."

Lewis noted numerous scientific studies and scientists who say the only thing that can stop a bark beetle epidemic is a bitterly cold winter - something that hasn't happened for several years.

Lewis derided the idea of placing national forests under state management, particularly the management of State Forester Bill Crapser. "Prior to his appointment as state forester, Crapser worked for the timber industry and has no record of protecting forest wildlife or the health of forest ecosystems," Lewis said.

For his part, Crapser said Barrasso's bill "will benefit the people of Wyoming because it will allow us to cooperate and partner with the (Forest Service) on important forest health projects."

Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, doesn't see it that way.

"If this fanciful bill ever became law (which it won't)," Stahl wrote in an e-mail, "Forest Service timber sales would no longer be competitively bid and timber purchasers could choose for themselves which trees to cut and how to cut them, e.g., clearcutting, thinning, etc."

Stahl said Barrasso's bill would override two key provisions of the 1976 National Forest Management Act, and would allow the state to subcontract forest management activities to timber companies.

"The bill is a nice Xmas present for the timber industry," Stahl wrote.

Doug Honnold, managing attorney for the EarthJustice law firm in Bozeman, Mont., was even blunter.

"Senator Barrasso wants to deputize Wyoming and the timber industry to run the national forests in Wyoming. The Forest Service has all the tools it needs to log on national forests," he said.

Tom Troxel, of the Intermountain Forest Association, said Barrasso's bill is similar to a program that Colorado has had for five years - the "Good Neighbor Authority."

"It has a fairly narrow niche," Troxel said. Say a private landowner wants to do some fuel management or thinning, and his property adjoins state or federal forests. Cooperative agreements that allow fuel treatments on all properties are more efficient, he said.

Joe Duda, forestry management supervisor for the Colorado Forestry Department, agreed. He said projects are usually less than 500 acres and allow for projects on a landscape basis, rather than rigorously following artificial boundary lines.

Rocky Smith, of Colorado Wild, said the program is running fairly well and has a relatively small niche in the scheme of things.

Troxel acknowledged that cutting timber won't stop the bark beetle, but maintained that it remains a worthwhile tool to reduce wildfires, put insect-killed trees to beneficial use and lay the groundwork for "the next forest."

According to Barrasso's office, the bill has Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., as a co-sponsor. It has been assigned to the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee.