May 2, 2001

The Utah Environmental Congress (UEC) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against the Fishlake National Forest over the Monroe Mountain Ecosystem Restoration Project.

The Utah Environmental Congress alleges numerous environmental law violations by the Forest Service, which has authority over Utah's National Forests. The Monroe Mountain Project covers 50,000 acres and includes twelve watersheds within the Sevier River Basin, and five roadless areas. According to the Fishlake National Forest's Plan, the area is supposed to be managed "to emphasize the habitat needs of one or more wildlife management indicator species and to increase species richness and diversity." Denise Boggs, Executive Director of the Utah Environmental Congress said, "The Fishlake National Forest has no idea of the status of imperiled wildlife species, and instead of protecting their habitat as mandated, they want to destroy it".

The timber sale will log about 9 million board feet of timber and the five roadless areas are home to the Bonneville cutthroat trout, Southwest willow flycatcher, boreal toad, flammulated owl, northern goshawk, three-toed woodpecker, mountain lion and black bear. "The kind of blatant violations of law committed by the Forest Service in making this decision to log a roadless area is happening in much of the country. They used to do this environmentally harmful logging in Alabama, too, but we stopped them there. I hope to see the dawning of a more enlightened kind of management for the public's lands in Utah, said Ray Vaughan, founding attorney of WildLaw in Montgomery, Alabama."

The UEC pointed out to the Forest Service that livestock continue to overgraze the land and pollute the streams, but they continually refuse to address the issue. The Fishlake National Forest has gone so far as to blame overgrazing on deer and elk, yet those populations are declining. By the Forest Service's own numbers there are 4,280 livestock in the area and only 700 elk. Although the area is supposed to be managed for wildlife habitat, it is clearly being managed for the benefit of local ranchers.

"It's absurd that all the Forest Service can do is propose yet another money losing timber sale, while refusing to remove the livestock that are damaging the area, said Denise Boggs. "There is nothing 'restorative' about the Monroe Mountain Ecosystem Restoration Project. It's time for the Forest Service to protect our roadless areas and native wildlife instead of pandering to the interests of the logging and ranching industries," she said. Melissa Barbanell, with the firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, is handling Utah local counsel for the lawsuit.