Bogus 'Emergency' in Forest, Groups Say

SACRAMENTO (CN) - The U.S. Forest Service declared a bogus "emergency situation" to push through a salvage timber sale in Northern California's Klamath National Forest, three environmental groups say in Federal Court. The Forest Service can declare an emergency when a project threatens imminent economic loss to the government, but the only ones who will lose if this project doesn't proceed is a private, third-party timber auction bidder, the groups say.
The Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center is leading the charge against the Panther timber sale.
A 2008 lightning storm burned 63,000 acres in the Klamath National Forest. The blaze was naturally extinguished by rain.
With past logging and roads, post-fire erosion poses an additional threat to the quality of Klamath streams, which provide habitat for steelhead, salmon and trout. Elk Creek, which the Panther project intends to log, is already impaired by sediment, the suit says. Logging there violates the National Forest Management Act by ignoring buffer zones around rivers and streams, the groups say.
The Panther logging plan also fails to properly evaluate environmental impacts, including harm to the threatened northern spotted owl, which uses post-fire areas for forage and roosting. The Panther project lies within designated critical habitat for the owl.
Under the National Environmental Policy Act, instead of the inaccurate and incomplete environmental analysis the Forest Service prepared, it needs to complete a more comprehensive environmental impact statement that also considers cumulative impacts and a full range of alternatives, the groups say.
     Joining the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center as plaintiffs are the Environmental Protection Information Center and the Klamath Forest Alliance.
Represented by René Voss of San Anselmo, the groups seek withdrawal of the faulty environmental assessment, want the "emergency situation" to be set aside, and injunctive relief.