Latest news with #Roadless
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Alliance for the Wild Rockies stops secret logging project in Uintas-Wasatch-Cache National Forest
Aspen trees in the Ashley National Forest. (Photo courtesy of Jason Christensen, Yellowstone to Uintas Connection) What happens when government agencies try to sidestep the law and exclude the public on major projects? Well, sometimes they get away with it — but not this time. The Forest Service tried to secretly log and burn a roadless area in northeast Utah but the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, one of the most successful environmental and conservation watchdogs in the West, sniffed out the plan and stopped it. Here's the story. The project calls for logging and burning 4,400 acres (about 7 square miles) of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest in the Soapstone Basin area about 20 miles southeast of Kamas. This area in the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah is known for its abundant recreational opportunities, scenic beauty, and pristine wildlife habitat. This land is particularly sensitive since its Inventoried Roadless Areas include habitat for lynx and wolverines, which are listed as 'threatened' under the Endangered Species Act, as well as elk and mountain lions. The area is of great interest to the public, including the Alliance, which regularly comments on projects affecting national forests throughout the Northern Rockies. The Forest Service neither informed nor gave the public an opportunity to comment on the project, it wasn't listed on the agency's projects page nor Schedule of Proposed Activities on its website. Nor was a legal notice published in area newspapers informing the public of the project as required by law. Yet, on May 8, Deputy District Ranger Kenneth G. Verboncoeur, signed the decision memo authorizing the project. We found pages 19-24 of the decision memo after it was posted on the agency's website on May 9. But the first 18 pages were mysteriously missing — including maps and locations for the logging and burning or how many miles of logging roads would be bulldozed into the Inventoried Roadless Area. Because the Forest Service never informed or gave the public an opportunity to comment on this project, we informed the agency that it was violating the National Environmental Policy Act and the decision memo must be withdrawn or we would take prompt legal action. Due to the obvious violation of these laws, the Forest Service notified the Alliance by email on Friday, May 16, that the agency rescinded the decision memo authorizing the secret logging and burning project. The Alliance appreciates the Forest Service for withdrawing their decision after we pointed out that they were breaking federal law and didn't make us take them to court. But we think the Forest Service should always follow the law like most Americans do, and not just when they get caught breaking the law. Fortunately for the American public, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act and the Endangered Species Act are still on the books. We are a democracy, and according to the Constitution only Congress can change laws, not federal agencies, and not the president. National Forests do not belong to the Forest Service; they belong to all Americans who have a right to review and comment on projects on national forests. Congress passed these laws because the Forest Service was destroying our public lands by putting clearcutting ahead of preserving habitat for biodiversity, preservation of species, hunting, fishing and the clean, vital watersheds national forests provide. But bureaucrats can't just operate in secret and pretend laws don't exist when those laws get in the way of logging and burning the National Forests that belong to all Americans. For now this decision has been rescinded. The Forest Service could sign a new decision in the future, but the Alliance will be watching — and holding the agency's feet to fire to follow applicable federal laws. Read the decision memo: UWC_DecisionMemo_FlyTreeSilverMeadows_20250508
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawsuit filed against permanent pipeline corridor in Idaho's Caribou-Targhee National Forest
The area is habitat for imperiled species like the greater sage grouse, grizzly bears, lynx, and wolverine, and the pipeline would result in a permanent 20-mile road across otherwise roadless public lands, writes guest columnist Mike Garrity. (Photo courtesy of Richard Prodgers) The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Yellowstone to Uintas Connection filed a federal lawsuit this month to stop a proposed pipeline corridor that would cut through six roadless areas in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho. The area is habitat for imperiled species like the greater sage grouse, grizzly bears, lynx, and wolverine, and the pipeline would result in a permanent 20-mile road across otherwise roadless public lands. The new permanent pipeline corridor could be used for additional pipelines in the future, and will undoubtedly increase illegal ATV use in the region. CONTACT US The U.S. Forest Service authorized a special use permit in March to clear-cut a 50-foot wide, 18.2-mile-long corridor through six National Forest Inventoried Roadless Areas for construction of a private company's pipeline from Montpelier, Idaho, to Afton, Wyoming. The decision allows a 50-foot right-of-way that will be clearcut during construction, and a permanent 20-foot right-of-way to maintain the pipeline. In addition to the pipeline itself and the utility corridor, there will also be above-ground facilities such as valves and staging areas. But since the project violates a number of federal laws, the Alliance and Yellowstone to Uintas Connection have filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service to stop construction of the pipeline. This pipeline would create a road through designated roadless areas, further fragments security habitat for deer and elk, and further degrades already impacted habitat for the threatened Canada lynx. This is the second time the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Yellowstone to Uintas have sued to stop this pipeline. We filed our first lawsuit in April of 2020, and two years later the Forest Service tucked its tail and ran, pulling its decision without even waiting for a final court order. But now it's trying again, and the simple truth is that the pipeline corridor will actually be a permanent road through national forest lands despite the fact that these public lands have been classified and protected as federal Inventoried Roadless Areas. That means motorized vehicles will be allowed to permanently use this corridor to maintain and inspect the pipeline. Which will cause permanent vegetation removal, increased sight-lines for poaching, increased noxious weed introductions, and abundant new opportunities for illegal motor vehicle use in these currently roadless areas. The basis for our lawsuit is that the Forest Service failed to disclose and demonstrate compliance with its own Forest Plan requirements for sage grouse. The agency also failed to analyze the cumulative effects on sage grouse as required. In this case, the Forest Service also failed to demonstrate that the new pipeline corridor is in the public interest; is compatible and consistent with other forest resources; that there is no reasonable alternative or accommodation on national forest lands; that it is impractical to use existing right-of-ways; and that the rationale for approving the new pipeline corridor is not solely to lower costs for the energy company. This violates the Forest Plan, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Forest Service Manual, the National Forest Management Act, the Mineral Leasing Act, and the Administrative Procedures Act. National forests were designated for the benefit of all Americans, not to maximize the profits of the oil and gas industry. Instead of needlessly destroying this rare habitat for endangered species on publicly-owned lands, the private company should use existing right-of-ways or private lands. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
