Utah Environmental Congress Wins First Lawsuit Against Forest Service!

The Utah Environmental Congress (UEC) won the first lawsuit ever filed against the US Forest Service in Utah to stop a timber sale. The South Manti Timber Sale on the Manti La Sal National Forest was appealed last year on the grounds that it violated the National Forest Management Act for failure to monitor specific wildlife species as required by the Manti La Sal’s Forest Plan. The timber sale would have logged about 29 million board feet (5,800 logging trucks) off 25,000 acres, including five roadless areas. The Forest Service ruled against the UEC’s appeal, so the UEC sued the Manti La Sal National Forest in the Central Division of the US District Court for Utah.

The lawsuit centered around a specific Management Indicator Species, the Blue Grouse, which is known to inhabit the timber sale area, as well as about half of the Manti La Sal National Forest. According to the Forest Plan, the Blue Grouse is an indicator of mature Spruce forest and is supposed to be monitored on a yearly basis. The Manti La Sal National Forest relied on the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources for its monitoring data until 1991 when UDWR quit monitoring the Blue Grouse. Instead of conducting the monitoring itself, the Forest Service simply did nothing and continues to have no idea of the actual viability of the Blue Grouse’s distribution on the forest.

US District Judge Dale Kimball agreed with the UEC that the Manti La Sal National Forest violated the National Forest Management Act, as well as its own Forest Plan in failing to monitor for this important forest species. This decision is vitally important to all wildlife species that depend on Utah’s six National Forests for their existence. The Forest Service must now survey for and obtain hard population data for each Management Indicator Species before logging or other activities that could impact wildlife habitat may occur.

Monitoring of wildlife is a reasonable and responsible activity that the Forest Service should have been doing all along. It’s ridiculous to believe that the cumulative impact of logging, road construction, livestock grazing, motorized recreation, oil and gas exploration, and mining activities are not affecting wildlife populations and their habitat. When the Forest Service has no idea of the actual population numbers of species, where they live, eat, and breed, and how they are distributed throughout the forest – there is simply no honest way to guarantee that wildlife populations are not being harmed. The South Manti Timber Sale Decision recognizes this fact and makes clear that it is the Forest Service’s responsibility to have this information prior to land disturbing activities. The UEC hopes this decision sends a clear message to the Forest Service that obeying federal environmental laws is not an option.

The Utah Environmental Congress has been diligently monitoring timber sales and other activities on all six of Utah’s National Forests since its founding three years ago. The UEC has appealed numerous timber sales and began litigating when it found the Forest Service would not obey the law until the courts ordered it to do so. The UEC will persist in monitoring Forest Service activities and hold the agency accountable to environmental laws. The UEC and WildLaw will be hiring an attorney this spring that will be housed in UEC’s office to assist in these efforts.