"This is assaulting the forest and extracting part of its biomass," he said. "There aren't many ecosystems in the world that are going to be helped in any way by that."

DellaSala said he agreed with this assessment. As a member of the National Research Council, he recently completed a study of sustainable forestry on non-federal land.

He predicts a three- to four-fold increase in plantation forestry over the next three to four decades due to a surge in demand for pulp and paper.

"The Southern ecosystem just cannot sustain that level of harvest," he said.

"The real bottom line," Wilson said, "is that we're losing too much of America's biodiversity already."

According to recent estimates by The Nature Conservancy, about one percent of America's land and animal species is now extinct, and about one-third are considered vulnerable, Wilson said.

Since the letter was written, there has been some progress, Ellenbogen said. A four-agency team including representatives from the EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Forest Service has assembled to discuss chip milling and make a full recommendation.

This recommendation may come as soon as November or as late as the end of December. The agencies have not yet committed to a full study.