Forest plans to move forward with projects

Contrary to an early report that

suggested three forest management projects were being abandoned

along with an appeal of a court decision that blocked them, the

Kootenai National Forest intends to proceed with the projects after

they go through a supplemental environmental analysis.

Acting Supervisor Maggie Pittman said

the additional analysis and documentation is intended to address

concerns raised by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in his ruling

on a lawsuit filed by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

The Solicitor General concluded that an

appeal of that ruling would not be filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit

Court of Appeals, creating the impression that the projects would

be dropped.

“This is a formality in the legal

process that is standard operating procedure,” Pittman said. “The

Department of Justice simply withdrew the ‘placeholder’ for appeal

of last year’s court ruling ... this action does not change how we

are proceeding with addressing the court’s concerns on these

projects.”

The three projects, involving timber

sales and fuel reduction work, already are under contract with

local purchasers. The supplemental review for one is available for

public comment through March 30 and the reviews for the others will

soon be available on the Kootenai forest’s website at

www.fs.usda.gov/kootenai.

“We are confident that our analysis

will fully address the court’s concerns,” Pittman said.

The Grizzly Project involves logging on

2,506 acres over a 69,000-acre project area about 18 miles

northeast of Troy, with an estimated harvest of 8 million to 10

million board-feet of timber.

The Miller-West Fisher Project involves

harvest dispersed over a 69,000-acre project area about 20 miles

south of Libby, with an estimated yield of 8.2 mbf.

The Little Beaver Project will be

carried out on 1,864 acres nine miles east of Trout Creek and is

expected to yield 74,000 tons of sawtimber and small-diameter top

wood and pulp.