The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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Litigation about the validity of a forest plan doesn’t happen very often, but two revised forest plans have been in the news for that lately. Flathead court decision The Montana District Court has decided the first case reviewing a forest plan revised under the 2012 Planning Rule, and it rejected decisions made in the Flathead … Read more
The following guest post was written by Chris Krupp, WildEarth Guardians’ Public Lands Guardian. Chris grew up playing in the fields and woods of his grandparents’ dairy farms in central Wisconsin. He received his J.D. from the University of Washington and his B.A. in Economics from Lawrence University. Prior to joining WildEarth Guardians, Chris was … Read more
Well, they say that “timing is everything” and based on what has just taken place in the past 24 hours they might be right. Today, a federal judge today overturned the Trump administration’s renewal of the Hammond Ranches’ livestock-grazing permit finding that then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s decision to renew the permit “was arbitrary and capricious, … Read more
Litigation Weekly Feb 2 ICL v FS (New case.) Plaintiffs claim 23 surface water diversions on the Sawtooth National Forest adversely affect listed fish species, and that the Forest Service failed to consult on them with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service as required by the Endangered Species Act. (D. Idaho) (Also discussed here.) … 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
“If there’s any reason that the Tester bill has not moved along better than it has, it’s because of its mandates that there not only be logging, but that certain amounts of timber be extracted. Conservation-minded Senators are very hesitant to vote for that, even though they recognize the Montana wilderness dilemma. They don’t want … Read more
American Forest Resource Council just released this in their current email. It follows up on Andy Stahl’s post on the 15th, Guy Knudsen’s post on the 16th, and Steve Wilent’s post yesterday, and reveals the intent of industry in filing this action (not sure why the Edit function won’t allow me to put spaces between … Read more
Thanks to Matt Koehler for originally posting here. What I thought was interesting was the concept “Why should we care what Robert Kahn thinks?” What is his background, and what experience does he have in our world? I did my usual internet search, found that there were a lot of Robert Kahns around, and that … Read more
With the recent 10th Circuit decision to reject Wyoming’s rehearing request, Roadless has once again reared convoluted and drama-filled head. Also, as the current legal framework becomes clearer (at least until someone initiates another lawsuit claiming that the NEPA is now out of date, does not consider climate change mitigation and adaptation, and is not … Read more
Thanks to the Missoulian for giving us a break from the planning rule.. my comments in italics.. U.S. Forest Service streamlines appeal process By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, January 28, 2012 10:16 pm | No Comments Posted What’s the difference between an appeal and an objection? When dealing with the U.S. … Read more