The John Muir Project, Plumas Forest Project, and Feather River Action! have jointly filed a lawsuit in federal court to require the U.S. Forest Service to complete an environmental impact statement on a logging and fuels management project on the Plumas National Forest.
Filed March 22 in the Eastern District Court of California, the suit asks the court to require a full report on the environmental effects the Central/West Slope Project. The 217,000-acre project includes cutting old-growth trees up to 400 years old, according to the lawsuit.
It will be among the largest logging authorizations in Plumas National Forest’s history and should be analyzed in more detail beyond the environmental assessment done by forest officials, the plaintiffs assert. Using an environmental assessment rather than a full environmental impact statement violates the National Environmental Policy Act, they allege, and ignores substantial scientific questions over mechanical thinning to reduce wildfire risk.
The Forest Service says the project is intended to reduce wildfire impacts in several communities. Agency officials declined to comment further.
In their complaint the plaintiffs alleged that although the stated purpose for the logging activity is community protection from wildfires, the agency failed to consider alternatives that limit logging to areas most proximate to human communities or that use management techniques such as prescribed burning in more remote areas.
The plaintiffs also alleged that the Forest Service failed to take a hard look at various issues, including carbon storage and emissions from affected forestlands.
The John Muir Project is dedicated to protecting dense, mature forests and the ecological benefits of natural processes, including fire. Information about the lawsuit from Plumas Forest Project and Feather River Action! is posted here.
