New Southern Utah Logging Plan Challenged by Conservationists in Federal Court
On Wednesday, February 13, the Utah Environmental Congress filed a lawsuit in Utah Federal District Court against the U.S. Forest Service to stop a large, destructive – and illegal – timber sale in Southern Utah. The challenged logging is on top of Mt. Dutton, 20 air miles north of Bryce Canyon National Park. UEC’s complaint states the logging was approved in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The Dixie National Forest proposed logging ten million board feet of timber but failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as required. That is roughly equivalent to a line of full log trucks stretching from the Utah state capitol down State Street to about 10600 South.
“Take all the logging units and put them next to each other and you get a square so large that if one corner were the old ZCMI mall downtown, the opposite corner would be near the 9th and 9th neighborhood. That the law requires an EIS for this level of logging is perfectly clear,” said UEC attorney Sarah Tal who added, “UEC’s track record demonstrates that we know how to put a stop to illegal logging.”
Mt. Dutton Background:
In 2002 the Dixie National Forest did an ill-advised prescribed burn during severe drought conditions. Better known as the Sanford Fire, it quickly escaped to scorch 70,000 acres. The high-severity burn caused great destruction, killing wildlife, and even boiling a genetically pure Conservation Population of native Bonneville Cutthroat Trout. Nearby forests scorched by the prescribed fire served as the catalyst for bark beetle outbreaks that followed, which in turn led to the logging plan UEC is now challenging.
Today the aspen forests in this critical elk calving area are regenerating with a vigor rarely seen. The young new evergreen forest is rich with large snags needed by old growth dependant wildlife, and the trout creeks have finally started to heal. The approval of landscape-scale logging on Mt. Dutton will undo all that nature is healing on her own, bringing further catastrophic damages on Mt. Dutton.
“Irresponsible Forest Service management caused the domino-effect that has horribly altered the forest landscape, wildlife habitat and imperiled fish populations up on Dutton” said UEC’s Executive Director Kevin Mueller, “Deep Creek had one of the few genetically pure populations of Bonneville Cutthroat trout left in the world that the Dixie NF managed to destroy with a prescribed burn. The proposed logging is sure to delay the trout’s recovery for decades due to watershed damage from increased erosion, sediment, and decreased water quality.”
UEC continues to work on behalf of Utahans to protect the National Forests and Native Wildlife throughout Utah. For more information please call Kevin Mueller at (801) 466-4055.
To view media coverage on this issue, please visit our UEC In The Media page.
To become a member of UEC and help protect our National Forests, please visit our Membership page.
Map Locator for Mt. Dutton
Casto Bluff Proposed Wilderness and Mt. Dutton Logging Area
[Please click here for our press release]
