California plans to sue the Bush administration over its plans to expand significantly the amount of logging allowed in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the state's Democratic attorney general said on Friday.

  On Thursday, the head of the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service affirmed a plan announced in January that would allow four times more wood to be harvested from the Sierra Nevada than in 2001. The approval to permit logging of 700,000 acres over the next 20 years was described as a move to curb wildfires.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said that if the plan is not changed before becoming final in two weeks, he would appeal to a federal court.

"We will not let stand this betrayal of treasured forests and the public trust," he said in a statement. "With this action, the Bush administration maintains its full-speed retreat from environmental protection."

Lockyer said the plan would violate U.S. environmental protection laws -- an assessment at odds with a statement by Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth on Thursday.

"After reviewing the appeals, I have found that the Pacific Southwest region complied with all applicable laws, regulations and policies in amending the 2001 plan," Bosworth said.

The Sierra Nevada region spans 400 miles along the eastern edge of California and is home to black bears, Bighorn sheep and sequoia, pine, and aspen trees.

Late last year, President Bush signed a law aimed at reducing the risk of wildfires in federal forests although environmentalists call it a giveaway to the timber industry.