Logging Halted in Sequoia Preserve

The Associated Press

Tuesday 15 November 2005

Fresno - A federal judge Monday stopped a logging project in Giant Sequoia National Monument, keeping intact more than 1,000 acres in a preserve that houses two-thirds of the world's largest trees.

US District Judge Charles R. Breyer issued a preliminary injunction blocking a timber sale known as the Ice Project, saying that the US Forest Service had ignored extensive research on how commercial logging would affect wildlife in the region. The lawsuit was brought by several environmental groups.

"We hope they're finally getting the message," said Deborah Reames, an attorney with Earthjustice, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit.

The project would have hurt wildlife, including some species that are near extinction, she said.

"Their reasoning for going ahead with the Ice Project was based on totally outdated science," Reames said.

Breyer, who halted a similar project in September, questioned the scientific analysis used to justify cutting trees in and around the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

The Forest Service said sales such as the Ice Project would help preserve logging jobs and the natural ecosystem. The project would thin out smaller trees that are fire hazards, not completely clear out the area, said Matt Mathes, a Forest Service spokesman in California.

"We desperately need to bring the ecosystem back into balance. The smaller trees in that area act as ladders to take fires into the taller Sequoias," Mathes said.

He said the project, along with 10 others, was grandfathered in and therefore not covered by monument rules. The sale was approved before Congress declared Sequoia National Forest a national monument in 2000. The designation generally prevents further logging on thousands of acres in Tulare County.

Mathes said he did not know if the Forest Service would challenge the injunction.

The national monument sits in Sequoia National Forest. The forest is one of 18 that cover about a fifth of California, according to the Forest Service.