 |
 |
|
|
 |
New lawsuit filed opposing two timber salesApril 28, 2003Three environmental groups have filed suit in district court opposing two timber sales in Northern Idaho.The groups say the two timber sales, in the upper portion of the St. Maries river watershed and the Lake Pend Oreille watershed, will have a detrimental impact on endangered bull trout. Mike Peterson of The Lands Council in Spokane says plans for the two projects violate the Panhandle National Forest's own forest plan, and will increase erosion. "They simply don't protect as much old growth as the plan calls for, which is ten percent," he says. "And they're also violating their soil standards, which is you can't detrimentally impact more than 15 percent of the site. They're doing that with both of these sales" Peterson also says he fears moves by the Bush Administration to limit appeals of timber sales, saying such a process allows the public a chance to participate ion the planning of such projects. He also cites a recent study by Northern Arizona University that found appeals had decreased since the mid 1990's and that few of the fire reduction timber sales were appealed by environmental groups, as opposed to large timber sales. By Steve Jackson |
||||||||||||
