PR Firm Out of the Woods

Congressional investigators with the Government Accountability Office concluded that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate any laws by hiring the PR firm OneWorld Communications. The unusual $90,000 contract for the "Forests with a Future" campaign promoted new policies increasing logging in California's Sierra Nevada forests. Environmentalists called the campaign misleading; others questioned whether the contract "violated laws against spending on publicity without Congressional consent." The GAO ruled, "While the Forest Service policy is controversial, the materials explaining the policy do not constitute prohibited publicity or propaganda."