Rapid City - Citing more pollution, more habitat destruction, and more irresponsible forest management, conservationists with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and Native Ecosystems Council today filed a complaint to protect water quality on the Black Hills from logging and road construction authorized by the U.S. Forest Service.

The water quality complaint, filed with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (SDDENR), comes after Forest Service officials authorized the Mercedes timber sale, a massive logging and road construction project, to proceed in the Rapid and Castle Creek stream drainages of the Black Hills National Forest. In doing so, Forest Service officials admitted and accepted in their environmental analysis that as a result of the timber sale, sediment levels in both Rapid and Castle Creek would be increased and stream habitat would be degraded.

As in past years, both Rapid and Castle Creek have been identified by SDDENR as violating State of South Dakota water quality standards due to excessive sediment levels. SDDENR also identified "silviculture activities," or logging and road construction, as the primary culprit for the water pollution. Despite the findings, Forest Service officials are pushing ahead with the Mercedes timber sale, allowing more logging, more road construction, and consequently more water pollution.

"It's frustrating and appalling," said Jeremy Nichols, a spokesperson with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. "The health of our water is at stake and the Forest Service couldn't care less. Their decision is not only irresponsible, but it is an affront to those who value clean and healthy water on the Black Hills."

South Dakota law prohibits any reduction in water quality on streams that are already polluted. Called the "antidegradation rule," the law ensures that when water quality problems exist, the problem is not worsened or altogether ignored. "It's a common sense approach to protecting the health of our water or managing any resource for that matter," said Brian Brademeyer with the Black Hills Regional Office of Native Ecosystems Council. "When you have a problem on your hands, you don't make it worse than it already is." Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and Native Ecosystems Council are asking SDDENR to enforce state water quality law and hold the Forest Service in violation of the antidegradation rule for authorizing the Mercedes timber sale and more water pollution.

In bringing the complaint, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and Native Ecosystems Council hope to hold the Forest Service accountable not only to protecting water quality on the Black Hills, but to protecting imperiled fish and wildlife species that are dependent on clean, clear, and healthy streams. Species like the American dipper, a streamside songbird, and native fish like the mountain sucker and lake chub, are all nearing extinction on the Black Hills, primarily because of poor water quality and continued pollution of streams. "There's a problem that needs to be fixed, not ignored," said Jeremy Nichols. "We're making sure the problem gets fixed now before it's too late."