Utah Environmental Congress

2005 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2005 Results of the UEC Forest Monitoring Program

 

Advocacy
  • Thousand Lakes timber sale – In August the UEC prevailed in a precedent-stetting win at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that stopped the 1000 Lakes Mountain timber sale on the Fishlake NF, in the headwaters of Capitol Reef National Park.  This Court ruling affirms the Management Indicator Species (MIS) ruling from last summer in UEC v. Bosworth that stopped the Monroe Mountain sale, and expands the MIS requirements by applying both the selection and monitoring requirements for Management Indicator Species to individual logging project areas.  This is great news for the law because it realizes the underpinning wildlife diversity protection purpose of the Management Indicator Species requirements under NFMA.  Of equal importance, this ruling completely dismisses use of a politically motivated Bush Administration 2004 Rule that attempted to gut these important fish and wildlife diversity protections in the National Forest Management Act.

 

  • 7-Mile Timber Sale – The Utah District Court ruled against the UEC in its litigation on the 7-mile “Healthy Forests Initiative” timber sale. We appealed the decision to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that issued an immediate stay (or injunction) stopping all logging until the Court issues its decision. This is a major victory because Courts don’t issue emergency stays unless they believe the plaintiff will win its case. This timber sale would log old growth spruce habitat important to a variety of wildlife species on the Fishlake National Forest.

 

  • Duck Creek Timber Sale – This project was the first major federal project approved in the Intermountain Region under President Bush’s “Healthy Forests Restoration Act.”  HFRA was designed to expedite logging in areas near communities to create defensible fire space around the edges of a community. The Duck Creek project did that, BUT added a backcountry component that would log old growth. This is the portion UEC objected to. We were able to sit down with the Forest Service that agreed to limit the backcountry component to log only small trees followed by a prescribed fire. This protected the big trees, dramatically reduced the size of the sale, and increased protection for fire-resistant tree species.  This agreement set a positive example for other HFRA projects and clearly demonstrated that public input is beneficial for improving projects on the ground and that old growth does not have to be logged to protect communities. The unprecedented HFRA resolution agreement also included concurring direction from the Regional Office that more public involvement is expected in future HFRA projects on all National Forests in the state.

 

  • Cow Canyon Project - Favorably resolved an appeal on the Ashley National Forest regarding a water diversion project on the south slope of the Uintas. UEC negotiated with the Forest Service to ensure successful mitigation through addition of an effective monitoring program during the entire 15-year duration of the project; to meet annually to improve local water conservation plans; and to make a firm commitment to treat invasive exotic plant species that the Forest Service didn’t deal with in the original decision.

 

  • Trout Slope West Timber Sale - UEC and HUPC filed a lawsuit against the Ashley National Forest to stop the Trout Slope West timber sale located near the ridgeline of the Eastern Uinta Mountains. This very large timber sale would remove some of the most valuable old growth forest left in this portion of the eastern Uinta Mountains. This old growth currently provides secure habitat for elk, deer, lynx, goshawk and three-toed woodpeckers. This native habitat is critically important to wildlife because it is all that remains after 30 years of unsustainable clearcut logging in the area.  The lawsuit also challenges a Forest Plan amendment that dropped 10 of 12 Management Indicator Species.

 

  • Uinta mountainsnail - UEC followed up on its petition listing for the Uinta mountainsnail that only exists in one area of the Ashley National Forest. It is critically endangered and deserves protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Uinta mountainsnail was included in a joint lawsuit listing numerous species and filed on behalf of UEC and other regional and national conservation groups. The USFWS has agreed to issue a final decision on listing by September 2006.

 

  • Sowers/Samson Seismic and Well Exploration – The UEC negotiated its appeal on this project and the Forest Service has agreed to conduct an EIS on all future oil and gas development on the Roosevelt and Duschene Districts of the Ashley National Forest. There will definitely be future oil and gas development in this area and UEC’s agreement established a solid foundation for the use of an EIS where we can effectively push for protection of wildlife, their habitat, water resources, and roadless lands.

 

  • Barney Top Timber Sale – UEC recently filed a lawsuit against the Dixie National Forest over this large project that would also log old growth forest above Powell Point, overlooking Bryce Canyon National Park and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Each Forest in Utah has a small component of old growth forest remaining that provides critical habitat for numerous sensitive and imperiled species yet that is precisely the land the Forest Service keeps attempting to log. Thanks to UEC’s exhaustive field work, we know where most of the old growth remains and diligently work to protect it.
Outreach
  • UEC has joined and is helping Save Our Canyons in a new lawsuit to reign in excessive, expanded helicopter skiing in the overcrowded central Wasatch Mountains above Salt Lake City.
  • UEC has been working with cabin owners trying to stop or curtail the impacts of a proposed HFRA timber sale in old growth spruce, fir and aspen near Strawberry Reservoir on the Uinta National Forest.
  • UEC is working with High Uinta Preservation Council and others in opposing new applications of grazing allotment renewal Categorical Exclusions across hundreds of thousands of acres on the Ashley National Forest.
  • UEC held its First Annual “Run through the Trees” – a family fun run to raise awareness about the National Forests in Utah - in September. We hope to make it an annual event and successful fundraiser.
  • UEC held its' Seventh Annual Conference in November.  Free and open to the public, our Annual Conference included presentations on public lands issues, a silent auction, and a celebration with food and music following the speaker's presentations.