WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Groups Demand Forest Service Withdraw Plan

Issuing New National Forest and Grassland Plans Would Violate Court Order
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Additional Contacts: Rocky Smith, Colorado Wild 303-839-5900

Denver - Responding to a recent court ruling, conservation groups WildEarth Guardians and Colorado Wild are urging the Forest Service to rescind a new proposed management plan for the Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands. Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that U.S. Forest Service regulations used to formulate forest and grassland management plans, issued by the Bush Administration in 2005, violated several federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act. The judge ordered that the government must immediately stop using the 2005 regulations until they comply with the law.

WildEarth Guardians and Colorado Wild sent a joint letter to the Forest Service today, pointing out that continuing with the Comanche and Cimarron planning process would violate the court order. The letter was addressed to Rick Cables, Regional Forester for the Rocky Mountain Region, and Bob Leaverton, Forest Supervisor of the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands.

"Thankfully, Judge Hamilton's order should force the Forest Service to scrap the Cimarron and Comanche Plan and go back to the drawing board," stated Lauren McCain, Deserts and Grasslands Program Director at WildEarth Guardians in Denver. "This plan became the first glaring example of how disastrous the 2005 planning regulations would be for our treasured Forests and Grasslands."

The Bush regulations specifically removed requirements that the Forest Service incorporate substantive public input, analyze management alternatives, disclose possible impacts of management, develop protective standards, and ensure viability for sensitive native wildlife into land management plans for our National Forests and Grasslands. The Comanche Grassland, in southeast Colorado, and the Cimarron Grassland, in southwest Kansas, were the first public lands to get a proposed new plan under the 2005 regulations. Issued on March 9, the public would have had 30 days to object to the plan. But the court ruling now makes the plan-and process under with it was developed-illegal.

The latest version Cimarron and Comanche Plan includes no provisions that will guarantee protection for sensitive wildlife, fragile ecosystems, and important historic and cultural values-including the Santa Fe Trail and the largest set of intact dinosaur tracks in North America.

"We were stunned by the lack of protective measures in the proposed Plan," noted Rocky Smith, ForestWatch Coordinator for Colorado Wild. "Unique and important resources, such as rare plants and historical and prehistorical resources, were left almost totally unprotected from the effects of oil and natural gas operations, livestock grazing, and off-highway vehicle use", stated Smith. "Hopefully, the proposed plan being found illegal will lead to a new start, under which these resources will receive the protection they need and deserve."

McCain added: "We look forward to an opportunity to work with the Forest Service and other interests to design a plan that would protect the Grasslands' unique resources while still allowing some human use."

Other forest plan revisions in Colorado are affected by the court's ruling. The draft plan for western Colorado's Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forest was issued about three weeks ago. It will need to be withdrawn. The San Juan National Forest in southwestern Colorado had began the revision of its management plan, and was expecting to release a draft plan later this year.