On August 20, 2004, EPIC filed a lawsuit on a giant logging sale in the East Fork of the South Fork Trinity River watershed, located in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The East Fork timber sale includes scattered old growth trees on over 2,000 acres, targeting more than 10 million board feet, or roughly 2,000 logging truckloads of trees.
The East Fork timber sale includes plans to log inside riparian and "late successional" reserves, which are both supposed to be off-limits to commercial logging. In December 2003, the Regional Forester agreed with EPIC that this logging was not justified, and overturned its approval based on our administrative appeal. However, the Forest Service soon proposed the exact same timber sale again, and though nothing changed in its plan, EPIC's 2nd appeal was denied.
In approving the timber sale, the Forest Service admitted it would hurt species like the fisher, goshawk, spotted owl, and salmon, which depend on intact, mature forests. EPIC intends to see that this harm is never realized, and that these species are protected to the fullest extent possible.
