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47 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, March 23, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 22, 2005 Court to hear logging case If appealed, lawsuits challenging timber cuts in the Biscuit fire area could last months By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune The long-awaited federal court hearing challenging logging in old-growth reserves and roadless areas within the area burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire is set to start late this morning in Medford. But the lawsuit may not be settled until May if the case is appealed. U.S. District Court Judge John P. Cooney will preside over the hearing in the federal courthouse in the case brought by lead plaintiff Siskiyou Regional Education Project against U.S. Forest Service regional forester Linda Goodman. The lawsuit challenges a decision by the agency to log six timber sales totaling 47 million board feet in roadless areas and late-successional reserves. The salvage is part of a plan to harvest some 370 million board feet of timber killed by the 2002 Biscuit fire in the Siskiyou portion of the Rogue-River Siskiyou National Forest. Advertisement The plaintiffs argue that the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan created the old-growth reserves primarily as habitat for the northern spotted owl and salmon. Leaving the burned timber standing is vital to reducing erosion and helping restore fish and wildlife habitat, they say. Although the agency declined to comment about the lawsuit, forest supervisor Scott Conroy noted last year that the total salvage in the Biscuit fire is limited to 19,465 acres, representing only about 4 percent of the nearly half million acres in the burn area. Forest officials also have said the salvage will boost the local economy while paying for reforesting 31,000 acres that were burned, thus speeding up restoration of fish and wildlife habitat. The agency, which is being represented by U.S. Department of Justice attorneys, is now involved in at least four court cases over Biscuit fire salvage. Conroy is named in two of the lawsuits: one brought by the environmental groups, the other by the timber industry. Within a short time of the hearing, Cooney is expected to make his finding and recommendations, followed by a 10-day response period. If the plaintiffs disagree with Cooney’s decision, they can then respond to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene, according to a participant in the case. Hogan would be expected to take several weeks to make a ruling based on the response. If the plaintiffs disagree with Hogan’s ruling, they could then appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. "That’s where we expect it to go," said Don Smith, director of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project. "It will probably be sometime in May before the appeals court makes a decision on it." The plaintiffs had hoped to avoid litigation, Smith said, noting the education project wasn’t opposed to all salvage logging. "We believed that if we went down some middle path, then the federal government would reciprocate," he said. "But they’ve showed no interest in that." In another case last week, Hogan denied a request for a temporary restraining order by an environmental group to halt logging on the Fiddler timber salvage sale by the Silver Creek Logging Co. That sale, where timber is currently being cut, is among those included in today’s hearing. Appellants are appealing that decision. Since timber fallers began cutting trees in the Fiddler sale on March 7, more than 40 arrests have been made of people blockading access to the sale. Several protesters have been arrested more than once. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s