Utah Environmental Congress:
In The News

Court Decision Delays Logging

The Associated Press

Salt Lake City -- A 10th Circuit Court ruling has halted a logging project near Utah's Fishlake National Forest.

The Utah Environmental Congress asked the courts to delay work on the Seven Mile timber sale, 10 miles north of Fish Lake, because of the negative effect logging would have on wildlife.  The three-toed woodpecker and the northern goshawk, both species struggling to remain viable, liver in the forest, the environmental group said.

The U.S. Forest Service had approved the logging project in 2000 under the Healthy Forest Initiative which is designed to control an advanced beetle outbreak.

Kevin Mueller, director of the environmental group said the Forest Service often tried to ignore the environmental impact of logging projects.

"In our opinion, that's illegal," Mueller said.

Forest Service officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

After the initial timber sale approval, the Utah Environmental Congress won an administrative appeal of the decision, arguing that environmental assessments regarding wildlife were inadequate.

The forest initiative allows for streamlining of some environmental requirements, but Mueller says some assessment is still mandatory, including those that require maintaining "viable" wildlife populations.

"The point is not to delay the project, but to ensure that it protects wildlife and habitat while still achieving the goals of the project," Mueller said.  "We think that's possible.  The Forest Service is just resisting that analysis."

This story appeared in the Daily Herald on page B7