Feds reject compromise offered by foes of forest thinning project
Copyright 2000 Associated Press
December 14, 2000
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The U.S. Forest Service rejected a compromise that would have reduced the initial scope of a project to thin the Coconino National Forest to reduce wildfire danger and restore it to a more natural state.
The Southwest Forest Alliance, Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity had offered to drop their latest appeal of the first phase of a massive, 10-year forest project on and around the San Francisco Peaks if the initial thinning in the Fort Valley area was reduced from 4,500 acres to 1,700.
But Gene Waldrip, head of the forest's Peaks Ranger District, issued a statement saying the compromise offer would have required a complete revamping of the restoration project and new environmental assessments that would not be in the public's interest.
"The proposal embodies no real compromise. Rather, it actually amounts to another delay of Grand Canyon Forest Partnership's efforts to protect homes and restore forests around Flagstaff," said Waldrip, the district ranger.
The forest partnership, a coalition of conservationists, businesses, local governments and academics, also voted unanimously to support the current plan and reject the compromise.
"If they were truly interested in finding a compromise solution to these very difficult issues, they would have been working hand in hand with the folks that have spent the last three years trying to develop and designing workable models out at Fort Valley," Brad Ack of Grand Canyon Trust told the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff. "Instead, they have resisted every step of the way and chosen not to be involved,"
The project has been stalled for the past two years by legal action and various appeals, and a newly issued Forest Service approval is under appeal to Regional Forester Eleanor Towns.
Southwest Forest Alliance executive director Martos A. Hoffmann said he was disappointed with the response to the compromise.
"I thought this was a good compromise that would move the whole Fort Valley project forward. It allowed research on wildland restoration type of strategies while seeking to protect Flagstaff," Hoffmann said.
He said it was disconcerting that the partnership would not accept a compromise that he believes would accomplish many of the goals of the Fort Valley plan, such as reducing fire risk.
Among other things, the compromise plan called on the Forest Service and partnership to drop plans to thin 4,500 acres and focus on a 1,760-acre parcel to test various forest restoration prescriptions that may ultimately be used on 180,000 acres of forest surrounding Flagstaff.