Conservation groups appeal Big Thorne ruling

Environmental organization Earthjustice announced last Friday groups it is representing in a trio of lawsuits opposed to U.S. Forest Service’s Big Thorne timber sale have filed two notices of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, following the dismissal of their suits by a federal judge in a March 20 ruling.

The Big Thorne sale involves the harvest of around 6,200 acres of forest on Prince of Wales Island and includes the clearcut of old-growth rainforest. Klowock-based mill Viking Lumber was awarded a contract last September to harvest and process the majority.

Among their complaints, plaintiffs challenging the sale argue it will adversely impact fishing, hunting and tourism in Southeast and that taxpayer costs would greatly exceed the US Forest Service (USFS) estimate of $13 million. The groups have also expressed concern the logging and 46 miles of related road construction would cause greater damage to deer and wolf habitats than USFS has estimated.

In his 25-page dismissal, U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline examined and ultimately rejected arguments that the sale violated requirements of the 2008 Amended Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, National Environmental Policy Act and National Forest Management Act. The judge also concluded USFS had not violated any governing provisions in conducting the sale and that environmental impact assessments had been reasonably thorough in scope.

Two of the dismissed cases are being appealed. In one, four groups are challenging USFS’s Big Thorne old-growth timber sale and its associated road construction. While in the other, a separate set of plaintiffs have challenged provisions in the Tongass Land Management Plan, which USFS relies on when preparing old growth sales across much of Southeast Alaska.

Earthjustice is providing legal representation in both cases. Among the groups it represents challenging the Big Thorne sale are Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), Alaska Wilderness League (AWL), Sierra Club and Audubon Alaska. Appealing a separate decision related to the Tongass Land Management Plan are SEACC, Natural Resources Defense Council, AWL and Sierra Club.