Utah Environmental Congress:
In The News

Court decision could allow timber sale
By John Hales
7-27-05

SALT LAKE CITY—A decision by a U.S. District Court judge allows the U.S. Forest Service to move forward with plans for a timber sale in the Manti-LaSal National Forest, but those plans may not get far due to an anticipated appeal of the judge’s ruling.
 
Judge Paul G. Cassell of the U.S. District Court of Utah effectively cleared the way for the South Manti Timber Salvage Project and five other Forest Service projects in the state, when on July 5 he denied a motion by the Utah Environmental Congress that would have reversed the Forest Service’s approval of the projects.
 
The timber salvage project would put 19-25 million board feet of timber on 1900-2500 acres up for sale to be harvested in the next five to seven years. The trees to be harvested are mainly spruce that have been killed by a spruce beetle epidemic.
 
The project also includes the reconstruction of 9.2 miles of roads and the planting of about 350 Engelmann spruce trees.
 
The project was first proposed in 1995 but has been paralyzed for nearly 10 years because of legal maneuvering by environmentalists.
 
With Cassell’s ruling, Manti-LaSal National Forest officials began putting the project in motion again.
 
Forest Service officials did not say much about the court victory itself, purposefully staying low-key to avoid antagonizing the project’s opponents, but they did say that plans were moving forward.
 
“Hopefully we can have things ready to go and have the sale sometime in the middle of October,” said Ann King, Manti-LaSal’s public information officer.
 
But the project might again be halted before the sale can take place.
 
The week following its loss in the courtroom, the Utah Environmental Congress filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, says the group’s executive director Kevin Mueller.
 
The group contends that the Forest Service approved the projects while failing to properly determine the adverse effects those projects would have upon an area, as required by federal law.
 
Based upon that, the UEC requested that the approval for the projects be reversed. But Cassell ruled that the Forest Service made all the appropriate studies and considerations.
 
“It really shows that Judge Cassell does not understand the basic issues involved with this,” Mueller said.
 
In appealing the case, Mueller is hoping the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will be consistent with a ruling it made on a similar case last year.
 
“Judge Cassell was reversed by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on this exact issue in a case involving the Monroe Mountain Timber Sale in Fish Lake National Forest. We’re appealing this decision because [Judge Cassell] clearly did not understand the 10th Circuit’s reversal on his decision last year.”