Legal challenges to the Big Thorne timber sale were dismissed in their entirety by a federal judge last Friday. Ten environmental groups filed three separate legal actions against the United States Forest Service (USFS) last year, challenging its planned sale on Prince of Wales Island.
United States District Judge Ralph Beistline denied the plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgement, granting in favor of USFS.
The Big Thorne sale would allow timber to be harvested from approximately 6,200 of the area’s 232,000 acres of forested land over several years, within the roaded land base of Prince of Wales Island’s eastern half. In addition to the timber, approximately 46.1 miles of roadways would be constructed for the project.
In making their case, the plaintiffs challenged USFS’s 2008 Amended Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan. In addition, their suits claimed the plan violated requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Forest Management Act (NFMA), as well as the plan’s own stipulations.
Plaintiffs also expressed concern that effects on the local wolf population were not being given proper consideration, and they challenged the USFS’s estimation of market demand in drawing up the sale.
In its 25-page decision, the court had to decide first whether “the project was in compliance with the plan in effect at the time of the site-specific decision in order for the forest plan challenge to be ripe.”
Addressing the challenge to the Big Thorne project, Beistline concluded USFS had not violated any governing provisions in conducting the sale and that environmental impact assessments had been reasonably thorough in scope.
As a result of this ruling, the plaintiffs’ request for oral argument, motion to strike at Docket 66 and motions for preliminary injunctions at dockets 72 and 78 were also denied by Beistline as moot.
Making up the plaintiffs were Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Alaska Wilderness League, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community, Greenpeace and The Boat Company.
The case drew support for USFS’s position as well, with a number of regional communities and businesses joining the defense as intervenors in the three suits. Among these was Wrangell, whose Borough Assembly decided last fall to join the lawsuit, contributing $5,000 to the defense’s costs.
“I think all of us support the timber industry,” explained Wrangell’s city manager, Jeff Jabusch. “The city was a supporter of Craig and the action taken against the lawsuits. Obviously we’re happy that happened and certainly support our neighbors over there.”
Klowock-based mill Viking Lumber was awarded a contract to log two-thirds of the proposed sale last September. Its medium sized mill would partially process from three-fifths to two-thirds of the 98 million board-feet harvested, which supporters of the sale argued would help the local economy.
Jabusch added Friday’s decision was important, as Wrangell itself will be looking at a timber sale in the near future. “Hopefully others would support us if there was a lawsuit filed.”
While the decision removes a major obstacle from the Big Thorne sale proceeding, it is not necessarily out of the woods just yet.
A congratulatory email sent to Wrangell’s City and Borough Assembly from the cases’ attorney for the defense, Jim Clark, warned: “We have to be prepared for plaintiffs to request an emergency PI (preliminary injunction) from the Emergency Panel of the 9th Circuit while plaintiffs file an appeal with the Ninth Circuit. But for today, this (is) terrific.”
“Everybody has the opportunity to appeal,” Jabusch explained. “If they do, then there would be additional action by the defense...to counteract the appeal.”
“Hopefully it will just move on,” he added. “I think at this point we’ll just wait and see.”
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