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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Groups keep roadless area fight in court

Environmental groups vow to continue fighting a 4,000-foot road planned for a roadless area in northeast Washington, despite a recent defeat in federal court.

U.S. District Judge Edward F. Shea denied the groups’ request Friday to halt the project. Opponents of the road filed a new appeal Tuesday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Stimson Lumber Co. has been trying for a decade to gain road access to its 558-acre island of timberland surrounded by national forest. The tract is in the Sema Creek area of far northeast Washington, which is home to some of the last surviving grizzly bears in the Pacific Northwest.

The company sued the U.S. Forest Service in 2000 to gain access to the land. In March, the agency approved the road, saying it had no choice under a federal law that requires access for “reasonable use and enjoyment.”

A coalition of five environmental groups is now challenging the law, known as the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. If the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agrees with their argument that the law should only apply to Alaska, it could have large implications for North Idaho, which is a checkerboard of private lands interspersed with state and federal tracts.

“It would be huge,” said Mark Sprengel, executive director of the Selkirk Conservation Alliance. “Whenever a private inholder demands a road through public land the Forest Service is obligated to provide that. The Forest Service would no longer be obligated to give them free access.”

Judge Shea ruled the environmental groups failed to cite any “serious legal questions” clouding the law. Numerous earlier cases, including a 1981 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, have interpreted the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to apply to private inholdings “nationwide, and not solely in Alaska,” according to Shea’s ruling.

But Shea’s ruling did prohibit road building for another week to give the environmental groups a chance to appeal the decision, “given the almost irreversible consequences once road construction is begun.”

Apart from the larger legal questions of building roads across public land, the environmental groups say their fight is being fueled by a desire to preserve the pristine nature of the Sema Creek area. The road would be bulldozed across the South Fork Mountain Roadless Area, which is habitat to a wide variety of rare plant and wildlife species.

Even if the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act applies to the lower 48, the Forest Service should not build the road, said Karen Lindholdt, the attorney representing the environmental groups.

“They can deny access if it’s deemed unreasonable,” she said. “Clearly we could say this is an unreasonable use. This is a roadless area.”

The construction could displace the few grizzly bears still roaming the area, Lindholdt said. The road could also send sediment into bull trout habitat.

Forest Service spokesman Dave O’Brien said the proposed road was studied exhaustively. It would be gated year-round and public access by motorized vehicles will be prohibited. Strict seasonal limits would also be placed on road use by logging trucks to minimize effects on grizzly.

The proposed road “really has low impacts on the environment,” O’Brien said. He added that the Forest Service has no jurisdiction on activities on private land. Logging on private land is regulated by state agencies.

The groups fighting the road construction include the Lands Council, Kettle Range Conservation Group, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Kootenai Environmental Alliance and the Selkirk Conservation Alliance.