Forest Service says lawsuit not reason for logging suspension
Copyright 2000 Associated Press
December 8, 2000
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The U.S. Forest Service says a lawsuit by environmental groups is not the reason for halting logging projects in six areas of the Ouachita National Forest. But the groups behind the lawsuit say their legal action is behind the suspension.
Some of the halted Ouachita projects are in districts with headquarters in Danville, Booneville, Jessieville, Perryville, and Talihina, Okla.
The federal lawsuit was filed in Georgia in July by eight environmental groups, including the Hot Springs-based Ouachita Watch League.
"Ask them how many times they withdraw major timber sales. They never do," Ouachita league chairman Jerry Williams said. "Of course this is because of the lawsuit. To say anything else is absolutely silly."
Projects in six other southern national forests were also halted
The Forest Service said there were scientific reasons behind the halts to the projects and that the lawsuit did not play a role.
"These were local decisions that were made because the projects warranted further analysis and really have nothing to do with the suit per se," said Bruce Kinzel, a Forest Service spokesman based in Atlanta.
Kinzel and local Forest Service officials declined to comment about specifics of the pending litigation.
Tracy Powers, a spokesman for the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest, said the Forest Service will soon review the projects that were halted.
The lawsuit claims the Forest Service does not properly consider potential harm to wildlife and the environment when making decisions on timber harvesting. Practices in three dozen national forests among 13 states in the South are at issue in the lawsuit. The Arkansas sites were added to the lawsuit in October.
The timber industry employs tens of thousands of Arkansans.
One controversial harvest is still included in Forest Service plans for 2001. Williams said the Middle North Fork timber sale would cut hundreds of trees at the Jessieville-Winona Ranger District of the Ouachita National Forest.
Lawyers for the environmental groups want the Forest Service to drop 22 other timber-sale projects, including the Middle North Fork, which is challenged in the lawsuit.