Judge blocks fed's plan to sell Tahoe timber
The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, August 24, 2004
SACRAMENTO -- A federal judge has blocked the federal government's plans to sell timber from an area west of Lake Tahoe that was extensively burned in a fire three years ago, land now proposed for a wilderness area.
While environmentalists hailed the ruling, the U.S. Forest Service said the salvage logging was delayed so long that most of the timber had already become worthless.
Money from the sale would have gone to speed the area's recovery from 1991's Red Star fire, said Tahoe National Forest Supervisor Steven Eubanks.
U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. blocked the proposed cut in Duncan Canyon, about 30 miles southeast of Foresthill, more than a year after issuing a temporary restraining order.
On Friday, he sided with environmental groups that said the logging could create a worse fire hazard and harm wildlife in the area.
The Sierra Club said it was the first time a judge barred a logging sale for violating the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
The group charged that the Forest Service's recovery plan was a pretext to allow more logging.
The Forest Service had proposed to use helicopters to remove trees from 4,309 acres of burned land in Duncan Canyon, part of the 10,473 acres of national forest burned in the Star Fire.
England, appointed to the bench by President Bush, found that the logging proposal would have left tons of debris that could create a worse fire hazard than leaving the damaged timber intact.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has proposed wilderness protection for Duncan Canyon, which contains two of the largest remaining sections of old-growth timber in the Tahoe National Forest.
The suit was filed by the Sierra Club, John Muir Project, Sierra Forest Legacy, Sierra Foothills Audubon, the Forest Issues Group, and the Center for Biological Diversity.