Forest Service criticized for suspending projects

Legal action wasn't meant to delay minor tasks, activists say.

From cutting the Capitol Christmas tree to minor forest thinning, the U.S. Forest Service has put hundreds of small projects across the country on hold while it looks at a judge's ruling throwing out limits on the public's right to participate in forest decisions.

A forest protection group that won the ruling contended Sept. 30 that the Forest Service has gone far beyond the intent of the ruling and appears to be intentionally trying to create a "train wreck" by holding up trivial projects.

"The reason we sued over this was this allowed them to put in a 250-acre clearcut, an off-road vehicle trail or a prescribed burn next to somebody's home and not allow them to comment on that," said Jim Bensman, forest watch coordinator for Heartwood in Alton, Ill. "All these other things they are shutting down is stuff we asked the judge not to be impacted."

Among the projects the Forest Service put on hold is cutting an 80-foot-tall Engelmann spruce from the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico to serve as "The People's Holiday Tree" on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., said James Payne, Forest Service southwest regional spokesman, from Phoenix.

As long as no substantive objections are raised during a 30-day public comment period starting tomorrow, there would be time to cut the tree and ship it to Washington, Payne said.

Matt Kenna, an attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center, said plaintiffs repeatedly have offered to work with the Forest Service to clarify what projects are covered by the ruling, but the Forest Service has refused.

"They are hoping that by citing actions like the Capitol Christmas tree it will put the court order in doubt and they are trying to make us look like the bad guys," Kenna said.

The actions stem from a July 2 ruling by U.S. District Judge James K. Singleton Jr. in California, which found the Forest Service was improperly approving projects without public comment or appeals under a process known as categorical exclusions. Last month, Singleton specified his ruling applied nationwide.

The Justice Department is considering an appeal, said Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevich from Washington, D.C.

In the wake of the 2002 Biscuit fire in Oregon, which burned 500,000 acres in the Siskiyou National Forest, President Bush signed legislation and his administration revised administrative rules to streamline environmental review of forest-thinning projects to reduce wildfire danger. At the time, environmental groups complained it was a smoke screen to allow more logging.

Among the projects the Forest Service is holding up are the salvage of dead or dying trees on 250 or fewer acres, logging green trees on 70 or fewer acres, temporary roads shorter than a half-mile, fish and wildlife habitat enhancement, and small-scale oil and gas exploration.

The Forest Service is counting how many projects the ruling affects nationwide, but in Oregon and Washington alone, more than 170 have been put on hold, said Northwest regional spokesman Rex Holloway.

"We are not suspending toilet maintenance," Holloway said. "The regional forester made that perfectly clear. Routine maintenance of campgrounds and administrative sites we will continue to do. They are asking us not to do any heavy maintenance. But routine maintenance on roads, cleaning out culverts, we are not going to hold those back."

The projects put on hold were approved after the ruling went into effect July 7. They will be reconsidered after the public has 30 days to comment. If substantive objections are raised, the Forest Service has 45 days to consider an appeal.