Appeals Court Rules against Forest Service
12/1/97
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Headline: Appeals Court Rules against Forest Service
Source: Rutlan Herald and The Associated Press
Date: 12/1/97
Author: Susan Smallheer
The U.S. Forest Service violated federal environmental laws when it
failed to fully consider the effects of logging and road building in the
Lamb Brook area of the Green Mountain National Forest, the U.S. Second
Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled Monday. In a decision that
handed victory to a coalition of Vermont environmental groups and also
made some concessions to the Forest Service, the appeals court sharply
criticized the Forest Service for not doing its job. The three judge
panel said the Forest Service must review its decision to log in parts of
the 5,500-acre roadless area in Windham and Bennington counties, and more
actively assess the effects on the black bear and migratory songbirds
that environmentalists said would be harmed by logging and road-build
ing.
"In sum, we agree that the Forest Service violated NEPA (the National
Environmental Policy Act) by failing to adequately consider all relevant
environmental factors prior to making its finding of no significant
impact," the judges wrote. "The Forest Service's determination that
preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement was not necessary, based
on the record before it, was therefore arbitrary and capricious, they
added. "Arbitrary and capricious" is the legal standard the judges had to
apply. In essence, the decision gives the Forest Service another chance
to make its environmental case on why the effects of logging Lamb Brook
would not be damaging to black bears and migratory songbirds, but
environmentalists said they would challenge again.
"The Forest Service has a long way to go; the Forest Service has to start
from square one," said Stephen Saltonstall, the attorney for the
coalition of environmental groups, which was led by the tiny Green
Mountain Forest Watch and included the National Audubon Society, the
Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club. Saltonstall said he hoped that
James Barthelme, the forest supervisor in Vermont, would decide that Lamb
Brook needed protection, not logging. "Hopefully he'll decide to let
Lamb Brook alone," said Saltonstall, who said his coalition was ready to
pre sent their wildlife experts to say the impact on bears and birds
would be significant and irreversible.
Helen Toor, the assistant U.S. attorney who handled the case for the
government, said she was aware there was a decision, but hadn't seen it
and declined comment. But environmentalists were claiming success after
their three year fight in the courts. "This is a significant victory
for us and for the forests and creatures of Lamb Brook," said Mathew
Jacobson, executive director of Green Mountain Forest Watch in
Brattleboro. "The court ruled that the Forest Service had hidden the
effects of its proposal and that's against the law," said Jacobson, who
has been a thorn in the side of the Forest Service for the past four
years, challenging timber sales and other plans. "The Forest Service
thinks they can have their forest and eat it too." "I think that this
points to just how important the remaining wild lands are on the Green
Mountain National Forest and the Forest Service should use this
opportunity not to develop and log these areas," he said.
Jacobson said the ruling stopped short of being precedent-setting for the
entire 340,OOO-acre forest, but he noted it was the first time the Forest
Service had been challenged in court in New England, unlike the western
states, where it has been found in violation of environmental laws
numerous times. "We think that sweeping environmental problems under
the rug is standard operating procedure for the Forest Service," he
added. The panel of three judges, who heard the appeal in. February,
did n't agree with some arguments made by the environmentalists, and it
sent the case back to U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha in Brattleboro.
The Second Circuit said that Murtha overstepped his bounds in determining
the impacts of the logging. "The question is substantive, and
consequently not one within the purview of the district court," the
appeals court wrote. "The district court overstepped the narrow
confines of judicial review when it jumped to the con clusion that impact
of the project would be "arguably significant"' they wrote.
Members of the coalition put together by Green Mountain Forest Watch
included the Wilderness Society, Conservation Law Foundation, the Sierra
Club, the National Audubon Society, the Vermont Aubudon Council, RESTORE:
The North Woods, and four individuals, including Jacobson, James Northup,
the author of the current Green Mountain National Forest plan, and Tyler
Resch and Ellen Viereck, both of Bennington. Saltonstall now is a
staff attorney with CLF.
Jacobson said challenging the Forest Service was having an effect: last
year 2.4 million board feet of timber was cut in the national for est,
which represents 2 percent of the state's timber base. He said the Forest
Service had wanted to cut 16 million board feet.
Mathew Jacobson
Green Mountain Forest Watch
48 Elliot St. Brattleboro, VT 05301
grnmt@sover.net
http://www.sover.net/~grnmt/
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