Richard Sieg

September 12, 2006

On August 22, 2006, U.S. District Court judge Charles R. Breyer ruled against a U.S. Forest Service plan to open the Great Sequoia National Monument to commercial logging. Judge Breyer deemed the plan "incomprehensible" and a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Forest Service intended to allow 3,200 acres of the 328,000 acre Sequoia forest to be cut annually. The judge permanently enjoined the logging, requiring the Bush administration to create an adequate management plan.

In a press release, Earthjustice states: "‘The Forest Service's interest in harvesting timber has trampled the applicable environmental laws,' wrote Judge Charles R. Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Judge Breyer also found that the ‘Monument Plan … lacks coherent or clear guidance' on how the unique ecological resources of the Monument, including numerous sequoia groves and old forest dependent species, would be managed. In addition to ruling that the Forest Service's overall management plan for the Monument is illegal, Judge Breyer invalidated several individual timber sales inside and adjacent to the Monument because of their potential impact on endangered wildlife."

The decisions in the two related cases—one filed by the California Attorney General and another filed by the Sierra Club and other conservation groups—are available through the Earthjustice site linked below.

For more information, please see the following websites:

http://enn.com/today_PF.html?id=11115

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/006/giant-sequoia-national-monument-wins-court-protection.html