The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in the Alliance for the Wild Rockies’ favor in its legal challenge to the East Reservoir logging project on the Kootenai National Forest in Northwest Montana. “The Court found that the Forest Service violated its own rules for management of grizzly bear habitat“ Garrity stated. … Read more
Regular readers of this blog will recall the numerous posts, comments and discussions concerning the East Reservoir timber sale on the Kootenai National Forest in Montana. Here’s a sampling of some those previous debates. Well, earlier today, two federal judges at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (including one judge who was appointed by George W. Bush … Read more
It would be interesting if courts required documentation of mediation efforts prior to this kind of litigation…like I have said before, it would be interesting to know in advance, in public, transparently, what changes in design would be asked for by the plaintiffs. That would be one way of trying to get more justice in … Read more
Update on the Red Mountain Flume-Chessman Reservoir project, discussed in several recent threads, including this one. Photos of logs and and article: Chessman Reservoir lawsuit to continue as timber harvest begins At least one of the two conservation groups suing over the Red Mountain Flume-Chessman Reservoir project plans to proceed with a lawsuit despite a … Read more
A copy of the complaint can be found here. Meanwhile, a copy of the press release from the plaintiffs is printed below and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s article can be found here. Weekend Update: An attorney with the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center – who happens to live directly next to the Bozeman Watershed logging project … Read more
Litigation Weekly Aug 3 FOTWS v. Kehr The district court upheld the Beaver Creek Landscape Restoration Project on the Flathead National Forest in Montana against NEPA, NFMA consistency and ESA (Canada lynx) claims. (D. Mont.) McGuinness v USFS The Fourth Circuit upheld a decision by the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina to authorize development … Read more
A reader sent me this series of questions about AWR’s objections to some Montana projects: It would appear the Alliance for the Wild Rockies isn’t participating in the formal public comment piece of the proceedings. The attached are objection responses for the East Reservoir (Kootenai) and Trapper Creek (BDNF) projects in Montana. Dated 7/17/14 and … Read more
Some observations about the recently revised Kootenai forest plan. Robyn King, president of the stakeholders’ group, said her organization hasn’t taken a stand on the broader forest plan, although they did publicly support the East Reservoir Project that could result in several small-to-medium timber sales in Lincoln County this year. “As you can imagine, due … Read more
From the Western News here: A potential legal challenge could result in the delay or termination of timber sales in the Kootenai National Forest that were scheduled to begin this winter as part of the East Reservoir Project. Attorney Timothy Bechtold, representing the Alliance for The Wild Rockies, sent a notice of intent to file … Read more
FEATURED CASE Okanogan-Wenatchee NF Twisp project Court decision in North Cascades Conservation Council v. U. S. Forest Service (E.D. Washington) On January 17, the district court granted summary judgment to the Forest Service with regard to the Twisp Restoration Project on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. The proposed project stated that most of the thinning and … Read more