This case is currently inactive.
Coastal Timberlands (GA)
SELC combats abuse of tree-farming exemption
Judge Orders Measures to Mend Damaged Wetlands
As a result of an SELC court victory in 2009, a federal judge has ordered measures to repair wetlands that were severely damaged when a company built an illegal road along the Ogeechee River in Georgia. The company must make alterations to the road to restore water flows, and it must take steps to keep soil erosion and polluted runoff in check. Under a separate agreement, the company will also preserve a 40-acre tract it owns elsewhere in the Ogeechee watershed that contains mature bottomland hardwood wetlands. This outcome stems from a lawsuit SELC filed on behalf of the Ogeechee Riverkeeper against the timber harvesting firm, which had claimed the road was for tree farming purposes and thus exempt from Clean Water Act requirements. In fact, the company had neither planted nor harvested trees on the property, which was sold as a home and recreation site.
Case Summary
Among the threats pressing in on the Georgia coast are the sale of timberlands for development and abuse of the “silviculture” exemption from certain Clean Water Act regulations, which are meant for legitimate tree-farming activities. Companies that own coastal properties may be tempted to add roads and other improvements and claim they are for forestry purposes, when in fact their aim is to make the tracts more marketable to developers and other buyers.
An Illegal Road Gets a Green Light
- SELC is tackling these issues in a case against a company that built a mile-long road through wetlands along the Ogeechee River and sold the property as a home and recreation site.
- Even as the sale was going forward, the company claimed to the Georgia Forestry Commission that it intended to keep and manage the property for silviculture purposes.
- As a result, both the commission and the Army Corps of Engineers concluded that no permit was required for the road since it fell under the silviculture exemption from wetland safeguards.
In 2008, SELC filed suit against the company for illegally filling wetlands and against the Corps of Engineers for approving the project as exempt from Clean Water Act protections. The Corps quickly reversed its position and agreed with ours that the road at issue was not an exempt silviculture road.
Ensuring that Regulators Do Their Jobs
Our goal is to prevent other companies from abusing environmental laws as old timber tracts are developed, and to make certain that government agencies keep a sharp eye on these activities to ensure compliance with the law.