The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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The legal steps on Colt Summit are going through their process. Here is the response to the “statement of facts.” I’d like to post assertion 1 and assertion 2, and have people make their own determinations, but I don’t think that the administrative record (that they refer to) is public information. Personally, I think it … Read more
Today’s Helena Independent Record included dueling guest columns concerning the Colt Summit timber sale lawsuit, which is the first lawsuit of a timber sale on the Lolo National Forest in over five years. One oped comes from Michael Garrity, a 5th generation Montanan, who’s the director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. The other … Read more
Much ado is being made about the Colt Summit logging and restoration project on the Lolo National Forest. In fact, last week The Wilderness Society, Montana Wilderness Association, National Wildlife Federation and Yaak Valley Forest Council joined with the Montana Logging Association, Montana Wood Products Association and others to actually file a “friend of the … Read more
If my reading of thew website (with this url: http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=31441) is correct, this is the current action that is in litigation. If not, hopefully someone kmore knowledgeable will let me know.
Thanks to Sharon for her most-recent post (below) on the Colt Summit timber sale project on the Lolo National Forest. Here is a link to the AP article, which takes a more balanced look at the project, the lawsuit and the “friend of the court” briefs filed this week. As the AP article indicates, my … Read more
We have discussed the Colt Summit project here before, here and the Cone of Silence post here. There may be more, you can just use the search box to the right and type in “Colt Summit.” It might be interesting to imagine that we were using objections instead of appeals and see whether you think … Read more
Thanks to Matthew Koehler for sending this brief that was filed Friday. Summary.Judge.OPENING.BRIEF.FINAL.filed.jan.27 . I think it’s great to watch a single project go through appeals and litigation. We can also ask the question “how do we think it would be different if we had an objection process instead? I’m still trying to glean what … Read more
It seems like this project has led to much discussion so.. Here’s the map of this project.. Given the discussion of wildlife impacts on previous posts, I thought it might be enlightening to review the FWS letter on the project. Here is the link (the FWS letter is listed under “supporting”): The proposed action consists … Read more
Here’s the link, thanks to Matthew Koehler for submitting this.. Guest column by MIKE GARRITY | Posted: Thursday, October 6, 2011 Government has to follow laws as well How ironic is it that while the Missoulian was chastising the Alliance for the Wild Rockies for filing a lawsuit to protect the environment in its editorial … Read more
Thanks to Terry Seyden for this find (so glad you’re back!). Putting lawsuits before results: Environmental groups suing over timber sale need to collaborate Missoulian editorial | Posted: Sunday, October 2, 2011 8:00 am http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_f76db5d8-eb93-11e0-af9c-001cc4c002e0.html Nearly everyone – environmental groups, timber companies, private landowners and public lands agencies – would agree that land management decisions … Read more