Dubya's Forest Service Backs down on Timber Sale

[JoseCuervo]

Maybe this forest was "more healthy" standing up, then laying on a logging truck???

In August 2003, a coalition of residents and environmental groups, represented by Earthjustice, sued the US Forest Service over the Dutton timber sale in the San Juan National Forest of Colorado. The groups won when the Forest Service withdrew the sale in May 2004.

The sale, which the Forest Service tried to pass off as reducing fire risk, would have clear-cut and selectively logged 3.7 million board feet of fire-resistant old-growth ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain Douglas fir. It would also have damaged important habitat for sensitive species in the area and led to the construction of nearly seven miles of road with an additional seven miles of fire line. A key factor in the Forest Service’s withdrawal was its failure to inventory nine indicator species before going ahead with the sale, as required by the National Forest Management Act.