greatfallstribune.com - May 27, 2010

BY: Karl Puckett, Tribune Staff Writer

Groups sue over forest logging plan

Two conservation groups are suing the Lewis and Clark National Forest for the second time in two years over plans to burn and cut timber in mature forest.

The Ettien Ridge Fuels Reduction Project, planned 22 miles south of Stanford, was approved to reduce the threat of wildfires and protect homes, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council state that the project will destroy old-growth forest habitat used by elk and goshawk, a large hawk the state lists as a species of concern.

"The main thread here is they're ignoring wildlife and their own rules for protecting wildlife under the guise of fear of wildfire," said Michael Garrity, executive director of the alliance. "Most of these places they want to log are not close to homes."

The alliance and ecosystem council also filed a lawsuit against the forest in 2008 over a 345-acre timber sale near White Sulphur Springs, citing concerns over wildlife habitat. That thinning project was meant to reduce the spread of mountain pine beetle. The forest later withdrew the project.

In April, the alliance and ecosystems council successfully appealed a plan by Lewis and Clark National Forest to burn and log 763 acres of forest in the Benchmark Road corridor, west of Augusta. That project was proposed to reduce the threat of fire to cabins and the intensity of future wildfires.

"It's part of the process," said Dave Cunningham, spokesman for the forest, of the appeal.

The Ettien Ridge Fuels Reduction Project includes 641 acres of logging, 1,655 acres of prescribed burning and the construction of 1.7 miles of temporary roads.

In the complaint, the alliance and ecosystems council charge that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act in drawing up the project. The two groups are asking the court to stop the work, which began this week.

"In the next 24 hours, we'll be taking a look at this thing and figuring out what the next step is," Cunningham said.

Whether work will proceed in light of the lawsuit was unclear Wednesday because Forest Service officials had yet to read the complaint, Cunningham said.

He noted that slashing on 300 acres already had begun. Cunningham said that one of the benefits of slashing is reducing the risk of fire to structures on adjacent private land.

Additionally, stopping the encroachment of ponderosa pine trees into meadows will benefit grasses and forbs that elk and deer eat, he said.

Sara Jane Johnson, a former Forest Service wildlife biologist who now directs the Native Ecosystems Council, said habitat for three species the state lists as "species of concern" will be destroyed as part of the project. Two goshawk nests, a brown creeper song bird and the great gray owl are found in the area, she said.

"Timber companies and the Forest Service have already logged most of the old growth in this country," Johnson said. "They need to leave some of it for old-growth-dependent species like the goshawk, before they drive them (the hawks) onto the Endangered Species List."

Under the forest's plan, the area is designated as important big-game habitat, with the number of roads restricted as a result, Garrity said. The lawsuit states that the road density in the area will be increased more than the forest plan allows as a result of the fuel reduction process.

The project previously was appealed administratively to the Forest Service. The agency won that appeal in February, prompting the lawsuit.

originally published at: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100527/NEWS01/5270308/Groups-sue-over-forest-logging-plan