WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief for the County Line Logging Project in the Rio Grande National Forest

A coalition of private land owners and conservation groups charge that the US Forest Service failed to follow procedure to protect water resources, has not complied with wildlife requirements and generally ignored the cumulative effects of logging
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

The project at issue would cut 29 million board feet (or 7,250 truck loads)of spruce and fir trees from 1,556 acres of high elevation forests inConejos County. Nearly 16 miles of inactive and recovering roads would haveto be reconstructed to access the trees. The proposed logging area iscritical to water production for downstream users that includerecreationists, domestic consumers, agriculture, and wildlife. In addition,the Forest Service claims the project is necessary to reduce the risk andspreading of spruce beetles, but the Xerces Society for InvertebrateConservation recently released an 88-page research compilation that castsserious doubt over the concept that logging reduces the chances of a sprucebeetle insect infestation spreading.

Read the Complaint (PDF)

Read the Appeal (PDF)