SACRAMENTO -- Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Sacramento yesterday challenging a logging plan proposed by the Klamath National Forest. The lawsuit aims to block implementation of the Beaver Creek timber sale, which would log over 6 million board feet (approximately 1,200 log truck loads) of mature and old-growth forests on 1,000 acres in the Beaver Creek watershed in Siskiyou County, CA. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, and Klamath Forest Alliance. Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Marianne Dugan, Brenna Bell, and Sharon Duggan.

The Beaver Creek timber sale would destroy almost 1,000 acres of forest that provides critical habitat for many rare plant and animal species, including the bald eagle, northern spotted owl, northern goshawk, fishers, martens, wild orchids, and salamanders. Beaver Creek supports some of the last remaining wild summer steelhead, spring Chinook, and coho salmon runs within the ailing Klamath River Basin. Protecting the last remaining intact forest in this area is critical for the survival of the plants, animals, and for maintaining water quality in the Beaver Creek watershed, as well as the entire Klamath River Basin. Every ancient tree standing in this area is precious to the plants and animals that rely on clean water and healthy forests, and is needed to bring vanishing species back from the brink of extinction.

"The area surrounding the Beaver Creek timber sale is a mixed "checkerboard" of private industrial forestland, most of which has been heavily impacted by logging, grazing, and road construction. The proposed logging units target the best habitat and the biggest, most fire resistant trees left in Beaver Creek, which will destroy critical refugia and increase fire hazard," said Christine Ambrose, National Forest Monitor for EPIC. "The proposed logging will make the forest hotter and drier, and will leave flammable logging slash and small fuels behind, making the area more fire-prone and vulnerable to insect outbreaks," she added.

"The Beaver Creek watershed serves as a crucial refugia for plants, wildlife, and fisheries along the biologically-diverse Siskiyou Crest," said George Sexton, Conservation Director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center. "The Beaver Creek timber sale, along with the adjacent proposed Uptown timber sale, will cause significant cumulative impacts that threaten all of the species that depend upon the forests and streams in this watershed for their survival."

"Instead of proposing controversial, old-growth timber sales, the Forest Service should focus their activities on restoration of areas already impacted by past logging, road construction, and fire suppression," said Felice Pace, Executive Director of the Klamath Forest Alliance.

The lawsuit claims that the environmental assessment prepared for the logging plan violates provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, National Forest Management Act, Northwest Forest Plan, and Klamath National Forest Land Management Plan. Specifically, the lawsuit argues:

o The Klamath National Forest failed to adequately consider the cumulative impacts of the proposed logging on wildlife, water quality, and fisheries;

o The Forest Service did not survey for sensitive and management indicator wildlife species or consider impacts to their populations;

o The Forest Service failed to demonstrate the proposed logging would maintain aquatic conditions and forest health, and reduce fire hazard as claimed;

o The Forest Service did not consider an adequate range of alternative actions for the proposal; and that the Forest Service failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement which analyzes the significant environmental impacts caused by the logging sale.


For more information and photos, see EPIC's National Forests page and www.kswild.org