The Associated Press 3/15/03 PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A federal judge has halted three timber sales in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, saying forest officials have failed to show the logging would not not harm the threatened Canada lynx or its habitat. U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown ruled this week that the forest officials violated laws by failing to ask for public comment when they removed thousands of acres from the forest's original inventory of potential lynx habitat. Some acres designated as lynx habitat are inside the boundaries of the three timber sales. Brown's ruling was in a lawsuit filed by the Hells Canyon Preservation Council of La Grande, and the Oregon Natural Resources Council. Brown denied a request for a broader injunction that could have stopped many other timber sales. Wallowa-Whitman spokesman John Denne said officials are studying the decision. He said the U.S.Forest Service could challenge the injunction. Forest Service officials argue that removing those acres did not imperil lynx because theres no evidence lynx would use those areas. But Brown ruled their actions "significantly changed the nature and the extent of lynx habitat, and the consequences to the lynx may be far-reaching." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the lynx as a threatened species in March 2000. Brown ruled that the Wallowa-Whitman must stop work on all three projects until it has complied with the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, which could take a year or more. Most of the trees slated for removal in the McCully project were felled last summer, said Bruce Countryman, a silviculturist for the Baker Ranger District. Work has not started on either the Sandy Bottle or Little Bear projects in the Catherine Creek area. |