Court ruling halts giant Idaho forest project

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A massive forest project in Idaho is on hold following a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The decision Monday halts the 125-square-mile project on the Payette National Forest that includes commercial timber sales, work to improve fish passage, prescribed burning to reduce forest fire risks and the closing of some roads. 

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed the lawsuit and appeal. It contends the project allows more logging of mature forests, which harms species that rely on old-growth. The group also said the project harms fish habitat for federally protected bull trout. 

The appeals court didn’t delve into whether the project was good or bad. The court ruled that parts of the project weren’t in line with the 2003 Payette National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan that had gone through a public environmental review process. National forests are required to create such plans using a public process that follows environmental laws. The appeals court said the Payette National Forest didn’t do that, and deviated from its 2003 plan in approving the project. 

The court took issue with, among other things, a Forest Service change in how large sections of the forest would be managed when it came to logging and restoration. The appeals court decision sent the case back to the U.S. District Court in Boise with instructions to vacate the Forest Service’s 2014 decision approving the project. 

Work on the forest project, called Lost Creek-Boulder Creek Landscape Restoration Project, started in spring 2015. It had the support of the Payette Forest Coalition, a diverse collaboration of groups and individuals which intervened in the case on the side of the Forest Service. (AP)

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