Contact: Don Duerr (307) 742-7978

Biodiversity Associates, a Wyoming non-profit organization dedicated to protecting wildlife and wild lands in the Rocky Mountain region, filed a lawsuit this week against the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) contesting that agency's decision to conduct two commercial timber sales in the Medicine Bow National Forest. The suit, filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, also challenges the USFS's failure to revise a long-range "Forest Plan" for the Medicine Bow Forest. Joining the suit were Laramie-based Friends of the Bow -- a group founded in 1989 to foster better management of the Medicine Bow Forest -- and Leila Bruno, a Wyoming citizen who has worked for more than a decade on wildlife issues on the Forest.

One of the sales contested in the suit is the Bird Creek timber sale, which is part of a project that would log more than 1,400 acres of the Forest in an area west of the town of Centennial, Wyoming. The other is the Joe's Park timber sale, which is part of a project slated to log more than 1,350 acres of public land southwest of Saratoga, Wyoming. An acre of land is about the size of a football field; a square mile of land has 640 acres. The USFS has admitted both timber sales would impact habitat for sensitive species such as the goshawk, reduce security for elk, and increase sediment in streams.

The suit alleges these logging projects are illegal because the USFS authorized the sales under an expired and inadequate Forest Plan. A Forest Plan determines how much protection will be provided for wildlife and streams on the National Forest, which parts of the Forest will be open for logging and mining, and how much logging and road construction will be allowed on the Forest.

Don Duerr, President of Biodiversity Associates, says "It is essential that each National Forest be managed under a valid Forest Plan because everything that is done on the Forest is regulated by the Plan." Without an up-to-date Forest Plan, he says, "the agency has no way of knowing if it is scheduling too much logging or is ensuring a good balance between recreation, wildlife, logging and other uses across the Forest. It's like trying to build a house for a very large family without having a reliable blueprint to ensure everyone's needs will be met, and without knowing if you'll even have enough resources to finish the job."

The National Forest Management Act requires the USFS to revise each Forest Plan at least once every 10-15 years to ensure the Forest Plan is current and accounts for changes in conditions and new information. The only Forest Plan ever developed for the Medicine Bow Forest was issued in November 1985 and is now more than 15 years old.

The USFS initiated a "revision" of the 1985 Forest Plan back in 1992. However, due to repeated delays, the revised Plan is not expected to be issued before 2003.

The groups' legal complaint cites USFS documents wherein the agency concluded the 1985 Forest Plan has so many significant problems that it needed to be revised by 1995. The problems include evidence that the 1985 Forest Plan scheduled an excessive or "non-sustainable" level of timber harvest on the 'Bow and scheduled logging in areas that have since been found to be unsuitable for timber harvest. The groups also say the 1985 Forest Plan completely ignored impacts associated with forest "fragmentation" and how this affects sensitive wildlife species.

A study done by University of Wyoming researchers, after the 1985 Plan was issued, found that the Medicine Bow Forest has been even more fragmented by logging and road construction than the forests in the Pacific Northwest. In those forests, the USFS has found it necessary to reduce logging in order to conserve various species such as the spotted owl and endangered salmon. The USFS also identified numerous "Sensitive Species" after the 1985 Plan was issued. According to Duerr, "these are important issues that emerged since 1985, and the Forest Service hasn't dealt with them."

In addition, the groups' complaint cites USFS documents stating that the 1985 Forest Plan was only designed to remain in effect until 1995. For example, the 1985 Forest Plan itself only scheduled timber sales on the 'Bow during the years 1986-1995. According to Leila Bruno, "The Forest Service promised the public this outdated and inadequate Plan would be revised more than 5 years ago. We did everything we could to get them to fix the old plan. But they just kept dragging their feet, turning a blind eye to the problems, and cranking out new timber sales that hurt the forest and its wildlife. So we had no choice but to ask the courts to step in."

The complaint also alleges that in an attempt to get around the fact that the 1985 Plan expired, the USFS internally developed a new Five-Year Timber Sale program to schedule a host of new timber sales out to 2005. The Bird Creek and Joe's Park sales are part of this new logging program. Neither sale was included in the 1985 Plan.

The conservation groups say the secret development of the long-range logging program violates several federal laws requiring the USFS to involve the public in the development of such programs. Bruno says, "They just shut the public out of the process; this is incredibly undemocratic." In addition, the groups allege the Forest Service has never properly considered how these new logging projects are collectively affecting wildlife, wildlife habitat, recreation, or scenic vistas across the 'Bow.

After receiving notice of the suit, the Forest Service agreed on Thursday to suspend the Bird Creek timber sale. However, the Forest Service has not agreed to halt the Joe's Park timber sale, and the agency may attempt to allow this logging project to proceed without a current Forest Plan. If so, the groups say they may have to ask the Court to halt the project until the case is resolved.