U.S. Rep. Greg Walden won’t try to block efforts by fellow Northwest congressmen calling for an investigation into why government funding was temporarily yanked from a controversial Oregon State University study.

But the Hood River Republican, who chairs a House forestry subcommittee hearing in Medford today that focuses on the OSU study suggesting salvage logging is harmful to the recovery of burned forests, doesn’t believe an investigation is warranted.

"I have no problem with that," he said of an investigation, then added, "I don’t think it’s necessary, but I have no problem with it."

At issue is a three-year study by OSU graduate student Daniel Donato. Published in the journal Science, it focused on logging in the aftermath of the 2002 Biscuit fire in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management decided on Feb. 6 that Donato had violated rules in a $300,000 federal fire research grant prohibiting the use of the funds to lobby Congress. The regulations also required that a BLM scientist be consulted before research was published. The agency suspended funding for the study’s final year.

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But the agency reversed itself the next day amid criticism that the Bush administration was stifling academic freedom for political reasons.

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., has called for an investigation by the Interior Department’s inspector general and U.S. Rep. David Wu, D-Portland, wants the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to investigate.

In addition to Walden and Inslee, U.S. Reps. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, are all expected at today’s hearing which begins at 1 p.m. in the Medford City Hall. Eleven witnesses, including Donato, will testify.

In a conference call Thursday, Inslee said he wants to "publicly burn the fingers" of an administration he believes repeatedly tries to prevent scientists from speaking out if it’s contrary to administration policy.

"This has been a daily pattern for this administration," he said. "It needs to have the whistle blown on it."

Inslee characterized it as President Bush trying to "rap the knuckles of any scientist who doesn’t agree with Karl Rove." He was referring to the senior White House adviser.

But DeFazio, during a visit to the Mail Tribune Thursday afternoon, believes an investigation would be a bit much.

"If you did, you wouldn’t want to spend very much," he said, later adding the decision to pull the funding was simply "stupid."

He figures it was the result of a political appointee over-reacting. However, he said the Bush administration has a history over over-reacting to views contrary to the party line.

"But there is nothing wrong with policy makers having a wide range of facts," he said of diverse studies.

Republican Walden, a co-sponsor of House Resolution 4200, which could make salvage logging easier after large fires, said both he and Baird, co-sponsor of the bill, wrote a letter to the BLM expressing their concern about its funding withdrawal.

"I also talked to Kathleen Clarke (BLM director) and said, ‘The perception is you’re clamping down on academic freedom because we don’t like the results. And that’s wrong. It looks bad,’ " Walden said. "They backed right off."

But he said the agency was correct in making a determination whether Donato followed proper protocols.

"He (Donato) did reference a piece of legislation in what he submitted to (the journal) Science and the protocols of government-funded research specifically prohibit that," Walden said.

However, the journal’s editors have since taken credit for sticking in the reference to the legislation.

"If the agency is abusing its authority, then the Inspector General should be brought in," Walden said.

"But if you’re somebody who hates what I’m trying to do, then you are going to grab every one of these and try to blow them out of proportion," he added of HR 4200. "I think the student’s report has been blown out of proportion in terms of the claims of what it determined and the issue of the funding."

Walden stressed that HR 4200 — the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act — is not a salvage logging bill. Rather, it is aimed at giving federal-land managers the ability to complete a swift evaluation of the condition of burned federal forestlands, then make a decision and act on it, he said.

The measure, which also calls for research and continued environmental safeguards, is being modified as the result of seven forest subcommittee hearings held in the past six months, and may be further modified after today’s hearing, he said.

"We’re trying to listen to what the underlying problems are and deal with them," he said.

DeFazio, who said he would introduce several amendments if the bill were introduced now, said one concern he has is that it gives too much discretion to political employees.

Inslee appeared to agree.

"What happened to the OSU study, an apparent attempt to suppress scientific inquiry, is the same kind of ailment that gives me pause for the Walden bill," he said

Three scientists joining Inslee in the conference call agreed with his assessment. They included Richard Hutto, a professor and director of the avian science center at the University of Montana; James Karr, professor of aquatics and fisheries at the University of Washington; and Dominick DellaSala, a forest ecologist who directs the World Wildlife Fund’s Southern Oregon office.

All expressed opposition to HR 4200 and a concern about what they felt was an effort by the administration to quash scientific studies.

"Nature is far more resilient than we can imagine and logging after natural disturbance sets back recovery for decades, if not longer," DellaSala said.

"We need legitimate legislation that encourages scientific inquiry without it being joined at the hip with logging legislation," he added.

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.