Press Release from ONRC on lawsuit
author: cfd
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ONRC has issued a press release detailing the recent victory in a lawsuit against 6 timber sales.
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OREGON NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL & WESTERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 9, 2003
Contacts:
Pete Frost, Attorney, Western Environmental Law Center, 541-543-0018
Doug Heiken, Oregon Natural Resources Council, 541-915-2329
Regna Merritt, Oregon Natural Resources Council, 503-283-6343 x 214
FEDERAL COURT DECLARES LOGGING
OF OLD-GROWTH FORESTS ILLEGAL
Portland-- A federal district judge ruled today that the Forest Service illegally allowed logging of old-growth forests in six controversial timber sales on the Mount Hood and Willamette National Forests in Oregon.
Judge Garr M. King ruled that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it allowed logging of 574 acres of old-growth forests within the Clark, Solo, and Borg timber sales in the Mount Hood National Forest, and the Straw Devil, East Devil, and Pryor timber sales in the Willamette National Forest. The judge halted any logging of the forests through November 7, when he will hold a hearing to decide whether to permanently enjoin logging.
"These old-growth forests are a legacy for our children, and deserve to be protected for future generations," said Pete Frost, attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, who represented three conservation groups in the suit.
The six sales contain trees up to 500 years old. The Forest Service first proposed to log these public treasures over five years ago. At that time, the agency did not survey the old-growth forests to determine if species protected under the Northwest Forest Plan lived in them. In 1999, federal district judge William Dwyer in Seattle ruled that federal agencies' failure to survey old- growth timber sales for protected species before allowing any logging violated the Northwest Forest Plan. That ruling led to an agreement between conservationists and the Forest Service to halt logging of roughly 100 old-growth timber sales in the Northwest, until the agencies performed surveys.
After that, the Forest Service surveyed some but not all of the old-growth forests slated to fall in the six sales. The surveys revealed many areas of rare species, including the red tree vole, a source of food for the northern spotted owl. The agency then reduced the size of the some of sales, but refused to survey all of the sale area, and refused to stop logging several old-growth groves where citizens had located red tree vole nests.
Judge King ruled that the Forest Service violated NEPA because it never publicly evaluated and disclosed the results of its surveys, survey findings, citizens' surveys, and management changes to the sales. Judge King also acknowledged that the Forest Service itself included these six timber sales among the 100 sales across the region that were enjoined under Judge Dwyer's 1999 order, that it had promised to perform surveys, and yet never publicly evaluated whether to log.
Citizens made critical contributions to stop the logging of these old-growth forests. Many Oregonians volunteered their time to survey timber sale sites looking for protected species. Judge King noted that their surveys resulted in reductions to the size of the sales. And yet unprotected sites found by citizens remain in the 574 acres of old-growth forests that were slated for logging.
"These old-growth forests provide habitat for rare species and provide clean drinking water for Oregonians," said Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. "The Forest Service must engage in a public process to evaluate whether to log any of our few remaining old-growth forests."
Background:
The Northwest Forest Plan was adopted in 1994. The Plan established a "survey and manage" standard that requires federal agencies to survey for certain rare and uncommon wildlife and plant species before allowing logging, and to establish buffers around known sites to protect species from logging. The standard applies to forests within the 4.6 million acres in which the Plan allows some logging.
The Western Environmental Law Center is a public interest law firm with offices in Eugene, Oregon; Taos, New Mexico; and Boise, Idaho. It was formed ten years ago to litigate to protect the West. In 1982, its attorneys filed the first legal action to protect the northern spotted owl, along with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.
The Oregon Natural Resources Council and its 7000 members work to protect and restore Oregon's wild lands, water and wildlife as an enduring legacy.
Hon. Garr M. King was born in Pocatello, Idaho, in 1936. He received degrees from the University of Utah and the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College. He practiced law for 32 years in Portland, most recently for the firm Kennedy King and Zimmer. He was appointed to the bench in 1998 by President Clinton.
In August, 2003, Jack Ward Thomas, former chief of the Forest Service and an author of the Northwest Forest Plan, called for the end of old growth logging under the plan, and urged agencies to instead focus any logging on the thinning of young stands of trees, to improve forest health.
The Boise Cascade Corporation has pledged to stop logging any old growth forests. The Home Depot, the nation's largest retailer of lumber, refuses to sell wood from old growth trees.
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NEVER GIVE UP! We won the 8-hour workday, the abolition of formal slavery (still working on the informal variety), women's suffrage, and the formation of our National Parks and Forests, and you have shown that we can protect and expand our gains from exploitative efforts on behalf of the "monied interests" that Thomas Jefferson was so leery of.