A federal judge in Denver recently ordered the U.S.
Forest Service to shelve a timber sale a decade in the making.
Judge Lewis Babcock told the Forest Service on Nov. 17 to abandon a
240-acre timber sale at Long Draw in Colorado’s Arapahoe-Roosevelt
National Forest. He said the Forest Service illegally favored
clearcutting over less-intrusive logging methods and violated
federal law requiring the agency to restock harvested areas within
five years of the final cut. The judge’s message is clear: “No
logging is permitted unless the land can quickly regenerate,” says
Roger Flynn, who represented three members of Ancient Forest Rescue
in the suit. Flynn calls the decision a precedent that should now
apply to much of the West where high altitude or dry conditions
make quick forest regrowth a problem. The decision comes after a
10-year battle by opponents of the sale. Forest Service attorney
Robert Clark says the Forest Service is considering appealing the
ruling.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Timber sale killed.
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