EPIC led a coalition of organizations to an incredible victory on April 23, 2002, when a federal court halted a 1,050-acre, post-fire logging plan bordering the Trinity Alps Wilderness. The Big Bar timber sale included over 300 acres in a key "inventoried" roadless area, and planned to cut 4,000 truckloads of the largest trees that survived the 1999 Megram Fire. The court found the Forest Service ignored evidence showing the timber sale would damage soil and fish and wildlife habitat, and would also impede ecosystem recovery after the fire.
The successful end to this case marked the third time EPIC stopped the timber sale. The first occurred in 2001, after the Forest Service exempted the plan from public appeals and immediately began logging the area. EPIC won an emergency motion to stop operations three days later, and due to this successful action, logging has not resumed since.
EPIC was represented in this case by Marc D. Fink from the Western Environmental Law Center and Julia Olson from Wild Earth Advocates.
