Groups To Sue For Trout Defense

Fishing and environmental groups say they will sue the federal government, charging it has failed to protect the endangered Umpqua cutthroat trout.

The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, representing the groups, filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue Monday with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Acting under court order, the National Marine Fisheries Service declared the Umpqua sea-run cutthroat trout an endangered species on July 30. The listing went into effect in September.

Under the Endangered Species Act, any action that harasses or harms a protected species is illegal.

The groups allege that the cumulative effects of timber sales and road building are not being properly examined.

The federal government is putting more emphasis on what will have the least impact on the timber industry not what will have the greatest impact on protecting fish, said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, one of the groups that have signed the notice.