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A Victory For Species Dependent on Old-Growth Habitat

By Matthew Koehler, Unfiltered 1-09-07

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court provided good news to wildlife species dependent on old-growth forest habitat by refusing to accept the timber industry's appeal of a 9th Circuit ruling in a case (Ecology Center vs. Austin) questioning how much scientific review is necessary for industrial logging projects in national forests.

Back in 2002 the Ecology Center - now called the WildWest Institute - challenged the Lolo National Forest's Lolo Post-Burn logging project, claiming the 4,600 acre logging project would result in the loss of valuable wildlife habitat created by the fires that burned in the Lolo National Forest in 2000.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the conservation organizing saying the Forest Service provided scant evidence to prove the agency's claim that logging in old-growth forests would benefit wildlife. Rather, the 9th Circuit said it was unclear whether the proposed logging would benefit old-growth dependent species like the northern goshawk and pileated woodpecker. The Court also said the Forest Service should have conducted soil tests in the actual proposed logging areas to determine if soil quality would be affected, indicating that the agency's method of testing similar soil types in other non-logging areas was not enough.

“The timber industry petitioners wrongly claimed that the National Forest Management Act does not impose a 'mandate to maintain wildlife viability' on the Forest Service,” explained Jeff Juel, WildWest Institute's Ecosystem Defense Director. “The timber industry was arguing that the NFMA allows the Forest Service to log wildlife species' habitat to the brink of extinction without having to pause for even a moment to determine if that might be happening.”

“As part of the Lolo Post-Burn logging project, the Forest Service wanted to log over a thousand acres of old-growth forests within the perimeters of the fires. These fires are the natural processes that, in many ways, help create healthy old growth habitat, including large dead trees, needed by wildlife species such as the northern goshawk, barred owl, and pileated woodpecker,” stated Juel.

“Forest Service management over at least the last two decades has been cut first and ask questions later, if ever, when it comes to the issue of whether their management has resulted in inadequate habitat remaining for populations of birds and animals needing unlogged, native forests for their survival,” Juel added.

“The highest Courts in the land agree that the Forest Service is in need of citizen supervision,” stated “WildWest Institute intends to provide that ongoing citizen oversight, working closely with scientists and researchers to bring the best scientific information into the equation for public land resource management.”

Juel also points out that the new forest plans being proposed for national forests in this region are being written using rules that show the same disregard for the issue of wildlife species' viability. The WildWest Institute, along with other groups, is challenging those rules in a separate court action. A ruling in that case, Citizens For Better Forestry vs. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, is expected soon.

Matthew Koehler is the executive director of the WildWest Institute

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