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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Activists Not Done With Fight Forest Service Reopens Two Roads Closed To Prevent Interference

Associated Press

The Nez Perce National Forest has reopened roads to the public around two timber sales near Dixie, but protesters vow to continue their opposition to logging in the Cove-Mallard area.

The Forest Service ordered the area of the Jack and Noble sales closed in June for public safety and to prevent interference with timber workers. But Red River Ranger Ed Wood said Wednesday that the road closures were not directed toward any particular group.

“I didn’t hear one complaint from the general public other than the Cove-Mallard activists,” Wood said.

Environmentalists in the Cove-Mallard Coalition have waged a high-profile civil disobedience campaign for three years against road building and logging in the Cove-Mallard area. They contend the Forest Service is violating federal environmental laws by allowing development in a crucial roadless habitat for wildlife.

Forest officials counter that they began work on the Cove-Mallard only after nearly a decade of legal debate, which finally determined that the timber sales violated no environmental laws.

There are nine sales scheduled in the area. The Grouse Creek sale was logged last year and the Noble sale is about one-third completed, Wood said. It is scheduled to be completed by October 1996 and will yield 8.6 million board feet of timber.

The Jack sale will yield 6 million board feet of timber and is scheduled to be completed by January 1998. Contractors are building 13 miles of road into the sale, all but four of which have been completed.

Wood said the road closures were ordered only after activists began interfering with contractors working in the forest, prompting concerns about public safety.

“Until that time anybody was free to go out and look at what we were doing,” he said. “People weren’t endangering themselves and that pattern can very easily continue as long as people show some sense and don’t interfere. We’re not afraid of people watching us. I think that’s their right. But we are afraid of people interfering and possibly getting hurt.”

Mike Roselle of the Cove-Mallard Coalition in Missoula, disputed Wood’s claim that people are free to watch the logging and road building activities.

“Our feeling has been that the closure has always been to prevent free speech activities from taking place up there,” Roselle said. “None of the actions have endangered workers or Forest Service personnel.”

The protesters’ camp at Dixie has closed for the winter, but activists will continue to monitor the work in the Noble and Jack areas, Roselle said, and there will be more protests.

“We’re still continuing our campaign and we will be up there throughout the winter.”