San Francisco - A federal judge handed down a 65-page ruling late yesterday that strikes down a plan to cut ancient forests next to the Yolla-Bolly Middle Eel Wilderness. The Court held that the U.S. Forest Service (FS) failed to properly analyze environmental impacts to wildlife dependent on these ancient forests for their survival, failed to provide a key biological document for public review, and failed to use sound science to protect the viability of wildlife.

"The Forest Service is supposed to look at the bigger picture, but instead they just focused on the proposed logging units," Scott Greacen, National Forest program coordinator for the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), said. "That's like a realtor saying `the house is fine--nevermind the neighborhood.' Fortunately, the court didn't buy it."

"We're very relieved that this beautiful ancient forest will be spared from the chainsaws," said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) who argued the case. "The Divide-Auger project shows what's wrong with the Bush Administration's bogus `forest health' logging agenda, which is targeting big trees in old forests in the remote, wild backcountry of our national forests."

EPIC filed the lawsuit in September 2003 to challenge the "Divide Auger" timber sale, which was located in the Mendocino National Forest in the Thomes Creek watershed, one of the only remaining free-flowing tributaries to the Sacramento River. The timber sale would have removed more than 700 truckloads of old growth and mature trees from more than 21 separate logging units, including ancient forests that connect the Yolla Bolly Wilderness and a designated old growth forest reserve.

In its ruling, the Court found that:

(1) "...[T]he agency repeatedly recognized that the DA Timber Sale and/or the other timber sales would fragment habitat for late-successional wildlife (in particular, the northern spotted owl), [but] the agency summarily concluded, without any real explanation why, that the fragmentation was not a problem..."

(2) The Forest Service improperly determined there would be no significant impacts on habitat "connectivity" and old growth forests.

(3) The Forest Service did not use sound science to ensure the protection of "management indicator species," violating legal requirements to maintain and restore viable populations of fish and wildlife.

(4) The Forests Service did not provide "adequate opportunity for public review of the [Fish and Wildlife Service] Biological Opinion on which the [Forest Service] relied."

The Court also "notes that it is troubled by the cumulative impacts analysis of the FS because it is not clear that the agency necessarily looked at the `incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions' as required..."

EPIC was represented in the case by Erik Schlenker-Goodrich of the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC), a nonprofit public-interest environmental law firm with offices in Eugene, Oregon and Taos, New Mexico. EPIC was formed in 1977 and is dedicated to preserving, protecting, and restoring biodiversity, native species, watersheds, and ecosystems in northern California. EPIC is headquartered in Garberville, California.

The lawsuit was in U.S. District Court in San Francisco before Magistrate Judge Edward M. Chen. The case number is 03-4396 and is titled EPIC v. Jack Blackwell, et al.


More information about the Divide-Auger timber sale and the Mendocino National Forest:

The forests at issue provide some of the last remaining habitat for the northern spotted owl on the eastern portion of its range and for the spring- and winter-run Chinook salmon, which are highly imperiled in the Sacramento River watershed. Dams and other problems have blocked access to more than 95% of the historical spawning habitat in the Sacramento River, making Thomes Creek a critical stream for both steelhead and Chinook salmon.

The Mendocino National Forest encompasses 894,399 acres within North Coastal Range of California in portions of Colusa, Lake, Glenn, Mendocino, Tehama, and Trinity Counties. The Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness includes 156,000 acres of rugged country and includes portions of the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers National Forests, and 7,400 acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness provides critical habitat for the northern spotted owl, and also contains suitable nesting and denning habitat for goshawk, marten, and fisher, and big-game habitat for black-tailed deer and black bear.

An 11-mile stretch of Thomes Creek is eligible for protection under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.