August 10, 2004

For Immediate Release

Lawsuit Challenges Application of Bush Administration Forest Policies

Conservation Group Says 4,600-acres Salvage Logging Scheme in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest is Illegal

Pittsburgh, PA – A Clarion, PA, based conservation organization, the Allegheny Defense Project, represented by Wildlaw attorney Tammy Belinsky filed a lawsuit challenging 19 controversial logging projects in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest. The 19 projects approve 1,670 acres of logging as part of a 4,600-acre logging scheme given a high profile as part of a Bush Administration initiative that brought Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman to Pennsylvania for Earth Day.

“The Bush Administration added insult to injury by spinning this illegal salvage logging in the Allegheny National Forest as part of their Earth Day celebration,” explained Bill Belitskus, a homesteader from Kane, PA. “The commercial logging program, including this so-called ‘Healthy Forests’ logging, are having serious consequences for the health of the Allegheny National Forest.”

The salvage scheme stems from a storm in July 2003 that blew down 10,000 acres in the Allegheny National Forest. The Forest Service has proposed salvage logging on approximately half of the affected areas. In order to speed up the logging process, conservationists allege that the Forest Service broke the project into more than 20 piecemeal logging projects allowing the agency to avoid detailed environmental analysis and public comment. The lawsuit challenges this piecemeal approach as a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

“The Forest Service segmented this scheme into numerous smaller logging projects in order to avoid doing any comprehensive environmental analysis or collecting substantive public input,” said Ryan Talbott, Forest Watch Coordinator for the ADP. “The Bush Administration spin of its own ‘Healthy Forests’ program into a boon for the timber industry comes not only at the expense of forest wildlife and soil, but also gives short shrift to public involvement – the heart of the environmental laws at issue.”

The Forest Service has proposed 19 salvage logging projects without an environmental analysis using the so-called “Healthy Forests Initiative” that the Bush Administration signed into law last year. In particular, the Forest Service is using Categorical Exclusion 13, which states that as long as a project is below 250 acres and has less than 1 mile of road construction, there is no need to do an environmental analysis. The 19 salvage projects using Categorical Exclusion 13 will result in 1,670-acres of logging of the 4,600-acres proposed for salvage logging.

“The Forest Service is using smoke & mirrors to make 1,700 acres of logging fit into a policy specifically designed only for projects smaller than 250 acres,” said Jim Kleissler, Forest Watch Director for the ADP. “This illegal logging project is the Bush Administration’s equivalent to seeing how many clowns can fit into a 2-person Volkswagon.”

"The new directive has been in place less than a year and the Forest Service is already violating it, despite a promise that project segmentation like this wouldn't happen. The Forest Service said it would not do this, and so it is no surprise that it has,” explained Wildlaw attorney Tammy Belinsky.

The lawsuit was filed this morning at the Federal Courthouse in Pittsburgh, PA.

• Download Complaint (pdf, 128 kb)
• Fact Sheet - Scientific Value of Downed Woody Debris (pdf, 164 kb)
• Fact Sheet - Black Cherry Tree Farms Threaten Healthy Forests (pdf, 85 kb)
• Download December 2003 Salvage Plan Report (pdf, 1.7 MB)
• Download June 30, 2004, Salvage Plan Report (pdf, 176 KB)
• Download Map of Wind Disturbance Sites (pdf, 448 kb)
• Download Map of Proposed Logging Sites (pdf, 448kb)

###