Judge Won’T Halt Beetle-Kill Logging

Fri., Dec. 15, 2000

From Staff

A federal judge has denied a motion to halt logging linked to the Douglas fir bark beetle on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. U.S. District Judge Edward Shea on Thursday handed environmental groups their third defeat on the issue. The Lands Council, The Ecology Center, Kootenai Environmental Alliance and Idaho Sporting Congress contend the Forest Service used inaccurate, misleading and outdated data to justify logging.

Shea decided that an injunction requested by the groups would compromise the bark beetle project, according to the order accompanying the decision. Forest officials have argued beetle-killed trees will rot if not logged quickly.

The project covers 25,000 acres mostly in the Panhandle forests, with about 5,000 acres on the Colville National Forest. Work on timber sales around Coeur d’Alene are nearly finished, while sales around Priest Lake are nearing the midway point, according to Forest Supervisor Dave Wright.

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