Western Watersheds Project * Biodiversity Conservation Alliance

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2006

Settlement on Bridger-Teton Protects Roadless Areas from Logging, Road Construction

 

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PINEDALE – Conservation groups today settled major parts of appeals of the Moose-Gypsum Project, providing a reprieve from logging and road-building for Forest Service Roadless Areas at the north end of the Wind River Range. The settlement, negotiated through the Forest Service’s “informal appeal resolution” process, will resolve the Roadless Area claims brought in an appeal of the project by the Western Watersheds Project, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, and Wild West Institute, and also resolves a separate appeal brought by two other groups.

“We’re delighted that these Roadless Areas will be spared from commercial logging and road construction,” said Jonathan Ratner, Wyoming Director for Western Watersheds Project. “This settlement is a real victory for wild places.”

The settlement requires the Forest Service to defer over 5,000 acres of commercial logging and other timber activities, and construction activities for roads planned for the Little Sheep Mountain, Mosquito Lake/Seven Lakes, and West Slope Winds Inventoried Roadless Areas for 5 years or until a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration’s repeal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule is resolved. This lawsuit is currently pending before federal court in California, and groups involved in both appeals of the Moose-Gypsum project are plaintiffs in the California case.

“Roadless landscapes on the Bridger-Teton provide the key security areas for elk and other big game, as well as key habitat for many other types of forest wildlife,” said Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. “A reprieve from logging and road construction in these areas is great news for wildlife and its habitat. We appreciate the Forest Service’s willingness to do the right thing to protect these Roadless Areas.”

Many of the fuels reduction logging units proposed in the Moose-Gypsum project were far away from the buildings and subdivisions of the wildland-urban interface. “If the Forest Service is going to pursue fuels reduction, it should limit these logging activities to areas immediately around settlements,” said Ratner. “Backcountry areas, where forest fires are a natural and necessary component of the ecosystem, should be left alone.”

“The help that we got from EarthJustice was particularly important on the roadless components of this appeal, and their contribution to this success was instrumental,” added Ratner.