WildEarth Guardians

Saturday, September 2, 2006
Court rejects suit to halt Carson National Forest logging project

WildEarth Guardians to appeal in Denver
Contact: Santa Fe New Mexican

Taos, NM - A federal judge has rejected an attempt by environmentalists to stop a proposed timber sale near Vallecitos in the Carson National Forest, but the environmentalists have vowed to appeal.

WildEarth Guardians sued in April 2005 over the sale, expressing concern over the lack of limits on the size of trees that could be cut in the 23,767-acre Agua-Caballos section.

U.S. District Judge James Browning of Albuquerque rejected claims that the project violated consistency provisions of the National Forest Management Act.

He would not address other objections raised in the appeal, ruling that WildEarth Guardians and Carson Forest Watch had not exhausted their administrative appeals over claims about the National Environmental Policy Act and other issues.

“It was a disappointing decision for sure,” said John Horning, executive director of Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians. “But by no means is it the final word as far as WildEarth Guardians and the other plaintiffs are concerned.”

Horning said the group would appeal to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

U.S. Forest Service officials were happy with Browning’s decision. “On behalf of the communities that live near, work on and care about the health of our forest, I look forward to implementing the Agua-Caballos projects,” El Rito District ranger Diana Trujillo said in a news release from the forest Thursday.

Forest officials have estimated the project would mean about 75 local jobs and would generate $1.2 million in wages. The sale will allow the cutting of at least 4,000 trees larger than 16 inches in diameter.

WildEarth Guardians said the large trees would be cut down despite the fact forest managers and conservationists agree that cutting small diameter trees would make the largest improvement in the forest’s health.

WildEarth Guardians alleges the project would further degrade the Rio Vallecitos and harm crucial habitat for the tassel-eared Abert’s squirrel, found throughout the forest but which prefers mixed-age trees. The squirrel is being monitored because its population is decreasing.

The lawsuit said the state Environment Department considers the Rio Vallecitos an impaired river due to sediment and erosion, and building roads would cause more erosion.

The project would allow commercial thinning on about 2,300 acres and prescribed burning on about 2,000 acres.

Copyright 2006 New Mexican - Reprinted with permission