Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Northern Spotted Owl (photo: USDA Forest Service)
It used to be the only “emergency” declared by the U.S. Forest Service involved cutting down trees to avoid a potential forest fire. Now, government foresters can claim a section of forest needs to be chopped down to avoid “imminent economic loss,” which they’re trying to do with 200 acres of trees in Northern California’s Shasta-Trinity National Forest that were burned in a forest fire in 2008 and another 255 acres that were burned in the Klamath National Forest. But the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center disagrees and has sued the Forest Service to stop the planned clear-cuttings deemed “emergency situations” by the government.
Environmentalists contend the economic loss rule applies only to the government, not to private timber companies in need of business. Furthermore, they dispute a biological assessment performed by the government that said the threatened northern spotted owl will not be affected by the proposed logging.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Another Bogus 'Emergency,' Groups Say (By Sonya Angelica Diehn, Courthouse News Service)
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Environmental Protection Information Center, and Klamath Forest Alliance v. U.S. Forest Service (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California) (PDF)
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath Forest Allianace and John Muir Project v. United States Forest Service (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California) (PDF)
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