Judge Dissolves Injunction On Work In National Forests

U.S. District Judge David Ezra on Wednesday dissolved an injunction which threatened to halt resource-based work in six Idaho national forests to determine its effect on endangered salmon.

Meanwhile, the environmental plaintiffs who went to court to prevent stream damage said the temporary injunction had the exact effect they intended.

“The only reason we asked for an injunction was because we couldn’t get the Forest Service to proceed with the consultation,” said Bob Doppelt, executive director of the Pacific Rivers Council.

The council and The Wilderness Society sought the intervention.

The injunction threatened to stop grazing, logging, mining and roadbuilding until federal managers figured out whether salmon-spawning habitat is in peril.

Last week, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a biological opinion ushering in ground rules on protecting drainages, while not eliminating hundreds of jobs. The injunction affected the Boise, Payette, Challis, Salmon, Nez Perce and Sawtooth forests.

Honolulu-based Ezra had stayed his ruling until mid-March.

Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Jack Bills last week said it would take about 30 days for the Forest Service and Fisheries Service to complete their review of projects on about 40 watersheds.

Gov. Phil Batt said he was relieved the court action was lifted. Two weeks ago, he met with the federal agencies to express his irritation that their failure to meet specified timelines on evaluating habitat threatened the livelihoods of miners, loggers and ranchers.

“At that time, officials from both agencies committed to me that they would resolve this issue by the beginning of March,” Batt said. “I have also received commitments from the federal agencies that Idaho will not be put in this precarious situation again. I intend to follow up on those guarantees.”

The Pacific Rivers Council on Wednesday also released a study which claims those “extractive” industries are on the decline, whether the court prohibited them or not. The report was written by ECONorthwest, an economic consulting firm.