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NEWS RELEASE May 8, 2008 Forest Service narrows Shellrock project Laramie — Homeowners and a local conservation group, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, agreed in Forest Service public meetings that protecting homes should be priority number one in the wake of the recent mountain pine beetle outbreak. Rarely has the public been so united on the top priority of a given Forest Service project. After public input on a Medicine Bow National Forest project called Shellrock Bark Beetle and Fuel Reduction, the Forest Service changed direction by proposing a new project called the Laramie District South Wildland-Urban Interface Project. The new project focuses on providing immediate protection of private property, requiring only 554 acres of logging and no clearcuts. The original Shellrock project included more than 8,000 acres of logging, much of it subject to clearcuts. Duane Short of Biodiversity Conservation Alliance noted, “It makes much more sense to protect homes bordering the Medicine Bow, rather than logging and clearcutting in the backcountry at the expense of wildlife. We applaud Medicine Bow staff for listening and for focusing on the public’s top priority—the protection of these homes.” The new project will immediately protect nine subdivisions, including Wold Tract, Fox Park, and Foxborough. The Forest Service is accepting comments on the Wildland-Urban Interface project until June 1, 2009. Short concluded, “Biodiversity Conservation Alliance will be submitting comments that begin with a big thank you to the Forest Service for focusing on the real task at hand, the protection of homes bordering the Bow.”
Contact information:
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Biodiversity Conservation Alliance P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073 (307) 742-7978 - carmi@voiceforthewild.org |