Timber sales in Cherokee National Forest ruled illegal

Charlottesville, VA - A federal judge has determined that the U.S. Forest Service acted illegally and against its own rules in attempting to proceed with two major timber sales in the Cherokee National Forest in east Tennessee. The ruling is a significant win for conservationists who sued the agency to stop large-scale logging in a popular recreation area and in one of the most biologically rich areas on the Cherokee.

In a decision rendered May 25, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said the Forest Service's attempts to eschew federal law and its own regulations in pursuing the two timber sales "confounds logic." The court ruled that, pursuant to the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), the timber sales must be made consistent with the Cherokee National Forest's new land-use management plan.

"This strong ruling will better protect some of the most outstanding areas on the Cherokee National Forest," said Sarah Francisco, staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents Cherokee Forest Voices. "As the court noted, the Forest Service can't grandfather old projects into the forest's new management plan. It would make a federal law, the whole planning process, and all the citizen participation, meaningless."

SELC, on behalf of the local group, filed suit in September 2004, challenging the 900-acre Flatwoods timber sale on Holston Mountain - the largest timber sale in recent history on the Cherokee - and the 80-acre George Creek timber sale. Both projects were in the pipeline when the Forest Service approved an updated land-use management plan in 2004. The projects include logging close to streams, in violation of the new plan, and the Flatwoods project includes logging in areas the plan places off-limits to logging because of their scenic and recreation values. Contrary to the requirements of the NFMA and the agency's own regulations, the Forest Service did not adjust the proposed sales to meet the requirements of the new plan.

Earlier this month, at the request of the conservation groups, the 6th Circuit Court took the unusual step of issuing an injunction that suspended the George Creek timber sale. The Forest Service proposal called for logging more than 80 acres in the George Creek watershed, just west of Roan Mountain State Park in Carter County. Most of the logging would be clear-cutting, which strips the land of virtually all vegetation, exposing nearby creeks to muddy runoff and drastically altering wildlife habitat. The botanist who surveyed the George Creek area for the Forest Service urged against logging, describing the area as a "large intact cove forest . . . which is a treasure in itself" and as "one of the most ecologically interesting and species rich areas" in the Cherokee National Forest.

The court ordered the case back to the federal district court in Greeneville, Tennessee, which now must determine how the sales must be changed to be consistent with the updated plan.