Group Sues To Stop Logging In Boise Forest

Sun., Jan. 10, 1999

From Staff

A conservation group is asking the U.S. District Court in Idaho to block all logging on the Boise National Forest, charging the Forest Service is not protecting old-growth trees there.

The Idaho Sporting Congress on Wednesday sued to halt logging on the 2 million-acre forest, which together with another lawsuit it filed against the Payette National Forest, would stop cutting on nearly 4 million acres, twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.

Sporting Congress Executive Director Ron Mitchell said the group took action after Boise Forest Supervisor Dave Rittenhouse refused to confirm his agency was protecting old-growth trees and sensitive wildlife.

The group sued Rittenhouse last Sept. 15 to gain information about the ancient trees, which led to last week’s court filing. It also expanded a suit filed last month challenging the West Fork timber sale in the Middle Fork of the Payette River drainage within the Boise forest.

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