January 17, 2005
Contact: Joshua Davis, Forestry Organizer
Office: 612-659-9124, Cell: 651-214-6883
Court Halts Bush Administration Logging Project in Minnesota
Finds US Forest Service is not protecting Boundary Waters
Minneapolis, MN — On Friday, Jan. 14 a federal judge decided the US Forest Service ignored the possible consequences of a logging sale it planned on Superior National Forest and ruled that the sale could not go forward without more careful study. The decision handed a victory to conservation groups, which had sued trying to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and places important for recreation, fishing, and wildlife.
In finding that the Project area is "…used heavily year-round by recreational visitors, contains one of the most frequently traveled roads in the Forest (the Echo Trail), and provides visitors to the Forest with a unique wilderness experience" the Court ruled that the Forest Service must prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
The Sierra Club sued the Bush administration over their proposed logging next to the Boundary Waters along the Echo Trail. "The Court strongly reminded the Forest Service that they have a legal responsibility to carefully evaluate actions that may harm the Boundary Waters Wilderness," said Sharon Stephens, legal chair of the Sierra Club's North Star Chapter.
The Echo Trail is one of the most popular roads in the Superior National Forest, and provides access to many canoeing and fishing areas in the Boundary Waters Wilderness. The land to be logged sits in an unprotected ecological corridor between two pieces of the BWCAW. The Sierra Club is concerned that the project will harm important watersheds and damage wildlife habitat. Judge Davis agreed, concluding that "simply listing past timber sales on public land, without providing a more detailed analysis of those sales, does not constitute the 'hard look' required under NEPA."
The Bush administration proposed the logging sale in 2001 and, despite citizens concerns, issued a final assessment for the sale in 2002. They authorized logging 12.6 million board feet (3,150 full log trucks) along the Echo Trail that divides the two main sections of the Boundary Waters. The Sierra Club appealed in 2003 and offered a compromise after negotiating with the ranger office that prepared the sale, but the Forest Service rejected the Sierra Club's offer. The only remaining option was to sue the Forest Service to force them to disclose the environmental impacts of the project.
On Friday, the Court agreed with the Sierra Club's main points:
1. The Forest Service failed to take a "hard look" at the problems the logging would cause, including illegal ATV use of logging roads and loss of the wilderness experience that people expect when they go camping, fishing, or canoeing.
2. The government did not consider the cumulative impact of all the logging that has happened in the area.
3. The agency must prepare and evaluate an Environmental Impact Statement as required under NEPA.