Excerpt from article by Alex MacLean, The Union Democrat
US District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on Monday denied a third consecutive request to delay the Forest service’s “salvage logging” project, this time while the plaintiffs appeal his previous decisions on the matter. The Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Island Institute and California Chaparral Institute jointly filed the lawsuit against the Forest Service over a plan to remove fire-damaged and fire-killed tees from about 30,000 acres of the forest. The 2013 Rim Fire burned about 257,000 acres in the Central Sierra over a 70-day period from August to October, with about 154,000 acres confined to the Stanislaus National Forest.
Supporters of the logging project – a group which includes local environmentalists and timber operators – argue that a prolonged delay could lead to the burned wood becoming useless before it can all be cleared. Burned wood is said to lose its value within about two years of a fire.
John Buckley, executive director of the Twain Harte-based central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, said removing dead trees is important in reducing the risk of future large wildfires and preparing the area for reforestation. Stopping the progress would likely result in taxpayers having to pay to remove the wood at a later date, Buckley said.
Carrillo said the groups could still ask the Ninth Circuit judge for an injunction on the logging while awaiting a hearing on the pending appeal. She said a decision by the appellate court on the injunction could come within a month, though hearings on the actual appeal likely won’t begin until early next year.
Meanwhile, the Forest Service has estimated that logging crews have hauled out nearly 100 million board-feet of timber from the burned areas as of Oct. 31. That includes work completed since May on a separate project to remove hazardous burned tress from along 194 miles of high-use roads. That project will not be affected by the ongoing lawsuit.
