Enviros claim logging plan is illegal
Groups file suit to protect endangered species
By Adam Klawonn · July 22, 2009 · Print This Article
KAIBAB NATIONAL FOREST — A federal plan to cut down up to 9,000 acres worth of wildfire-ravaged trees has met resistance from a coalition of environmental groups, who claim the logging project violates federal laws and would further threaten the endangered Mexican spotted owl.
Mexican spotted owl (Courtesy: Arizona Game and Fish Department)
As a result, those groups are asking a federal judge in Tucson to halt the project. The affected area is on the Kaibab Plateau in the north Kaibaba Ranger District. The region is northwest of Flagstaff and includes part of the Grand Canyon and some of the last remaining mature ponderosa pine in the Southwest.
The suit stems from a wildfire that burned through the area in June 2006. A lightning strike touched off the Warm Fire, which initially burned about 19,000 acres, according to the complaint.
But the Warm Fire quickly grew out of control and burned another 39,110 acres before firefighters were able to contain it. Their tactics included more than 30 miles of bulldozed fire lines and thousands of acres of intentionally set fires to rob the fire of fuel, according to the complaint.
In July 2007, the US Forest Service decided to log “hazard” trees along the highway, roads and trails. A subsequent biological opinion from the US Fish and Wildlife Service found that this project “may affect, but not adversely affect” hundreds of acres of spotted owl habitat that are known to be in the area. They say the project is necessary to recover the economic value of the burned trees, reforest burned-out areas and rid the area of fuel for future wildfires.
The lawsuit comes from the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and Wildearth Guardians. All three groups claim the project would harm the spotted owl and encourage more growth of cheatgrass, an invasive species of grass that is highly flammable and would only promote more wildfires.
The environmental groups are represented by Marc D. Fink, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity who is based in Duluth, Minn. To download a copy of the complaint, click here.
