Another environmental group appeals timber plan
Copyright 2000 Associated Press
December 29, 2000
SANTA FE - A Santa Fe-based environmental group has filed a second appeal challenging a plan to cut 300 acres of burned timber in the Gila National Forest.
Forest Guardians claims the planned Corner Mountain Timber Sale includes habitat for the endangered Mexican spotted owl. Logging there, near the headwaters of the Gila River, threatens water quality, the group says.
"This is like mugging a burn victim," said Sam Hitt, founder of Forest Guardians. "Taxpayers don't get a cent from clear-cutting worthless timber. Instead, we are left holding the bag with damaged soil, polluted water and degraded wildlife habitat."
Delbert Griego, resource staff officer for the Gila National Forest, said Thursday the proposed sale is a legitimate attempt to burn salvage timber that's going to rot otherwise.
"These folks are just out to appeal any type of timber harvest that we're proposing," Griego said.
The Forest Service prepared an environmental assessment about six months ago that called for cutting 3.2 million board feet of timber from the area.
Forest Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups appealed the agency's first assessment, charging that the Forest Service failed to consider the logging's likely effect on animals in the area.
Griego said the agency agreed it hadn't considered the effects of the logging on some species and said a new report addresses those issues.
The Forest Service hopes to offer the sale for bids by March or April, Griego said, but the timing depends on how fast the agency can deal with the environmentalists' appeal.