Our fish and wildlife friends are important parts of balanced ecological systems. These "ecosystems" are made up of diverse habitats, which not only support viable populations of wildlife, but also provide priceless services to human communities such as clean water. Animal and fish populations thus serve as indicators when human activities become unsustainable.
These are reasons why The Lands Council works to save endangered, threatened, and sensitive species, such as mountain caribou, Canada lynx, and bull trout. And because these species depend so much on intact forest ecosystems, we work to preserve old growth and native forests, restore watersheds, and protect roadless areas.
WILDLIFE
WIN IN IDAHO PANHANDLE
CASE
On March 11, 2011 the U.S. Forest Service withdrew its
appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the Bussel timber sale
in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. This action means that The Lands
Council's August 6, 2010 victory in the U.S. District Court of Idaho is final!
In August 2010, Judge Edward Lodge had found in favor
of The Lands Council in a lawsuit challenging logging in the St. Joe Ranger
District. The Court halted 2,137 acres of logging and the construction of
5.2 miles of new road in the Bussel Creek watershed, a tributary of Marble
Creek about 8 miles northeast of Clarkia, Idaho in Shoshone County.
The major issue is that habitat for wildlife species
depending upon old growth and other mature forest has been reduced and fragmented
primarily by past logging and road building, and the Forest Service is
currently unable to document successful breeding of its old-growth
"Management Indicator Species" northern goshawk, pileated woodpecker,
and pine marten in the 14,646-acre Project Area. The National Forest Management
Act (NFMA) requires the Forest Service to maintain well-distributed populations
of wildlife on the Forest, and to monitor population trends to insure that
viable populations are being maintained following management actions.
"The Court's Order requires the Forest Service to
actually search for and find key wildlife they have merely assumed still exist
in a Project Area, before they authorize more logging and road building,"
stated Jeff Juel, Forest Policy Director at The Lands Council. "The
agency cannot simply assume that a certain amount of habitat-however fragmented
and depleted by past logging-will be sufficient to maintain our wild
heritage" Juel added.
Another important issue is the Forest Service's management
of fire. Despite the Bussel Project's location well away from population
centers, the agency's planned response to wildland fire would be all out
suppression. Given the agency's recent admissions that fire suppression
has been harmful to forest health across the western U.S., the Court recognized
that future analyses of projects' environmental impacts must address the
cumulative impacts of fire and fire management. "The days of the agency's
perpetuating the never-ending cycle of fire suppression, followed by logging to
mitigate the effects of fire suppression, followed by more fire
suppression--without considering the long-term impacts of such policies--are
coming to a close," stated Jeff Juel. "The Forest Service must find a
way to allow wildland fire play its natural role in areas where risks to human
life and property are minimal," he added.
Based in Spokane, WA, The Lands Council is one of the
leading non-profit conservation organizations in the Inland Northwest. Since
its establishment in 1983, The Lands Council has protected thousands of acres
of public land, and works to preserve the forests, water, and wildlife we all
depend on for life.
Forest Policy Director, Jeff Juel at Bussel Creek
For more information on how The Lands Council is protecting wildlife and fish, click on these links!
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