In a ruling reminiscent of the Northwest spotted owl
conflict, federal Judge Carl Muecke ordered the 11 national forests
of Arizona and New Mexico to halt all logging until their forest
plans adequately protect the Mexican spotted owl. The Aug. 24
temporary injunction, which immediately stopped all timber
operations, came in response to a lawsuit filed by Robin Silver,
conservation chairman of the Southwest Center for Biological
Diversity. The lawsuit is Silver’s latest; he sued the Fish and
Wildlife Service to get the owl listed in l989, then sued earlier
this year to get its critical habitat designated. Silver says the
injunction against the Forest Service was a long time coming. “They
created this crisis through their stubbornness,” he says.
Loggers such as Lewis Tenney, vice president of
Precision Pine and Timber Co. in Arizona, were reeling from Judge
Muecke’s ruling. “It’s going to have a devastating impact on a lot
of people,” Tenney told The Arizona Republic. Arizona Gov. Fife
Symington said, “It’s time to stop Judge Muecke’s reign of terror.”
The Forest Service said it has not yet evaluated the full impact of
the injunction.
* Shea
Andersen
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Owl shuts down the Southwest.
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