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38 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, January 21, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 2, 2005 Species report stalls logging By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune A federal court judge ruled insufficient a U.S. Bureau of Land Management environmental assessment for the Scattered Apples timber sale in Williams. U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Hogan in Eugene concluded the BLM document failed to satisfy the National Environmental Policy Act’s "hard look" requirement on spotted owls and their habitat, on soils and water, on fisheries and on the aesthetic impact of helicopter yarding in the area. Hogan granted a preliminary injunction requested by the plaintiffs to block logging until a final judgment is made. Logging has yet to begin on the 3.7-million-board-foot timber sale, which the BLM has described as commercial thinning to reduce fire hazard and improve forest health. He also ordered the plaintiffs to submit a response to the injunction order within 14 days. The BLM then has 10 days to respond to the plaintiff’s comments. The lawsuit, filed early this year by Williams residents, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildland Center (KSWC) and the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, had charged that the sale violates NEPA rules. Advertisement However, the BLM’s Medford District wasn’t notified of the Dec. 20 ruling until Wednesday. "We’re currently working with our attorneys to assess our options," district spokeswoman Karen Gillespie said Thursday. "We may develop proposed remedies to the ruling and submit those to the judge for review." George Sexton, conservation director for KSWC, says the issue is tree diameter. "We would have never come to this point had the BLM not insisted on including large-diameter trees in the project," he said. "As long as they keep coming up with small-diameter sales that are paying for it on the backs of large-diameter, fire-resistant trees, they are going to keep losing." The plaintiffs are opposed to what they say are large, mature trees included in the cut. However, BLM officials say the average diameter tree to be cut is 12.6 inches with very few trees greater than 24 inches in diameter. A group of Williams residents had submitted an alternative in 1998, which called for concentrating on restoring stands that had been logged years ago. The BLM sold the sale to the Glendale-based Swanson Group Inc. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers