Lawsuit seeks to halt timber sales

A lawsuit filed in federal court Monday seeks to stop the harvesting of timber in two sale packages already awarded and to prevent any further sales in the East Reservoir Project of the Kootenai National Forest.

The two sales already completed amount to nearly 2,000 acres with a production estimate of nine million board-feet of timber in the next five years. The East Reservoir project is expected to produce a total of 39 million board-feet.

“This is unadulterated obstructionism and has little to do with forest health, habitat protection or wildlife protection,” Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Peck said. “It is a direct assault on our economy, our way of life and an affront to the professional scientists and many stakeholders who have put countless hours in developing this project. I find it offensive that a group who refuses to participate in planning and collaborative efforts, or even set foot on the project, can find standing in our justice system.”

Helena-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed the suit against the Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, the Kootenai National Forest and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, alleging the defendants failed to adequately consider impacts to threatened grizzly bear, lynx and bull trout habitats and populations.

Quinn Carver, planning and resource officer for the forest, said he couldn’t comment on specific items of the legislation, but did point to the irony of a suit to stop what he terms a “restoration project.”

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies objects in particular to amendments that exempt the East Reservoir Project from stipulations under the previous Kootenai Forest Plan. The project was developed under the previous forest plan, which was in effect from 1987 until the latest plan revision was approved earlier this year.

One of those amendments specifically allows clear-cutting on forested areas in excess of 40 acres, the limit under the old plan. The exemption requires the approval of the regional forester.

“It is not atypical, for an old forest plan, to site-specifically amend,” Carver said, noting that the exemptions only apply to certain areas within the project. “Some of them are also relative to new science.”

Advancements in science help the Forest Service plan active forest health management strategies, including areas such as stand size, tree disease and pest management.

“Science has advanced greatly since the early days of logging,” Carver said. “And this project is about restoration.”

Regarding protections for threatened species in the project area, Carver added the biological assessment and proposed actions were developed in consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

However, the lawsuit objects to amendments that exempt the project from wildlife protections, including road density limitations for grizzly bear habitat.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates [the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear population] is going extinct, and the main reason for that is grizzlies get illegally killed because these logging roads provide easy access for people to drive around and shoot things,” Garrity said. “They’re going to say, ‘We need more money to save grizzly bears and lynx because their numbers are declining.’ And that will put more bureaucrats to work.”

He added that clear-cuts threaten protected lynx populations, which are particularly dependent on old growth habitat. Their main prey, snowshoe hares, similarly require dense stands of forest with fallen trees to provide cover.

Regarding bull trout, the lawsuit claims that Cripple Creek, a drainage within the project, is already impaired for cold-water fisheries due to sediment pollution and the Kootenai Forest failed to properly mitigate for the effects of the project. Lake Koocanusa contains a significant population of bull trout that use streams and tributaries to spawn.

However, Carver again pointed out that the agency’s biological assessment was overseen by the federal wildlife agency.

“The population in Koocanusa is probably the strongest population in the lower 48,” he said. “Otherwise I don’t think the Fish and Wildlife Service would be allowing us to fish for them.”

Carver said the East Reservoir project is a sweeping landscape plan, one of the largest approved in recent history.

“That’s the biggest one I’ve dealt with in the eight years that I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s a landscape-level project that crosses multiple watersheds.”

Carver pointed to the collaborative process involved in the project decision. Members of a local stakeholders’ group, the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition, were actively involved in, and ultimately signed off on, the project. The coalition includes representation from the Yaak Valley Forest Council, Montana Wilderness Association, Plum Creek Timber, Idaho Forest Group and government officials.

Carver said the Forest Service was proceeding with additional sales in the East Reservoir Project until such a time as a federal judge orders them to stop.

“We did award two timber sales, with plans for a third,” Carver said. “Until we receive a decision from the court that enjoins the process, we can move forward. If we receive an injunction, obviously everything stops on the ground.”

The two sales were awarded to Thompson River Lumber under small business set-asides. Those contracts include requirements for the company to perform road maintenance to the logging sites, which could pose a further problem.

Should the judge enjoin the project and prevent timber harvesting on the sites, the company could still be responsible for the expenses associated with road maintenance under the terms of their contract with the Forest Service.

Carver said in such a case the agency will work with the company to mitigate the economic costs, but the contract is formally in place and regardless of ability to harvest, the company is responsible for maintenance.

In an area already suffering with one of the state’s highest rates of unemployment, every project matters. For the loggers of Lincoln County, as well as the families and support businesses who rely on them to survive, this suit could delay vital work and economic stimulus.

Lincoln County Commissioner Greg Larson echoed the sentiments expressed by Peck.

“This new lawsuit is obviously very disappointing and it comes just days after a University of Montana study that analyzed the costs of timber sale litigation to local economies and the federal government. The Kootenai National Forest needs to be managed by resource managers and not the court system, or judicial industry. This is another example of obstructionist lawsuits being allowed by federal laws in need of major revision. These laws open the door for these lawsuits without consideration of the management needs of the forest or the economic and social impacts on our community. We cannot continue to grow 300 to 400 million board-feet of timber annually and harvest 40 million without building up a tremendous fire load, which we happen to have today. It’s wrong that obstructionists that share no risk or economic hardship and live outside of the fire hazard area have more than equal rights to our court system,” Larson said.

Sam Wilson of The Daily Inter Lake contributed to this report.