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California's
Sequoia National Forest Withdraws Plans As Lawsuits Hold Up
Work
By Bethany
Clough, The Fresno Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business
News
Mar. 19 - Plans to restore part of a
forest burned in a 2002 wildfire were stalled again last week.
Work that Sequoia National Forest officials had wanted to do on
238 acres was tied up in court after lawsuits by environmentalists,
but the forest officials withdrew plans earlier this month.
Nearly two years after a campfire blew out of control and became
the McNally fire, burning 150,000 acres, plans for rehabilitating
the forest continue.
One of the first areas forest workers hoped to begin working on
is called Burnt Ridge. West of the Kern River but outside Giant
Sequoia National Monument, the area was one of the most badly burned
during the fire.
Between 75 percent and 80 percent of the trees there were killed,
and forest officials hoped to get in there quickly and remove the
dead, scorched trees. The trees can become fuel for future fires,
but the wood is still profitable to lumber companies up to about two
years after the fire, officials said earlier.
Then the Kernville-based nonprofit group Sequoia ForestKeeper and
four other environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, sued the
forest over its plans to rehabilitate the area.
They wanted the plans to be included in the longer environmental
process, in which the restoration plan can be appealed and the
public can offer input, said Ara Marderosian, Sequoia ForestKeeper
executive director.
Marderosian also said forest workers have not studied the effect
that removing dead trees will have on animals that flock to them
after fires.
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in December,
and in January issued a preliminary injunction that would prevent
any work from happening until the conclusion of a trial scheduled
for the end of the year.
On March 5, the Forest Service withdrew its plans for the
area.
Sequoia National Forest Supervisor Art Gaffrey declined to say
what prompted the move. "I can confirm that it's withdrawn, but it's
still in litigation, so I can't comment," he said.
Marderosian had said that if the environmental groups won their
lawsuit, it would have set a legal precedent that would put the
president's Healthy Forests Restoration Act in jeopardy.
When asked about his comments, Gaffrey responded: "I won't
respond to another person's opinion."
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