The Intermountain regional forester's office has rejected an appeal by environmentalists who believe that a logging project on the North Slope of Boulder Mountain was improperly approved.
Hugh Thompson, Dixie National Forest supervisor, was correct in approving a timber harvest on the North Slope of Boulder Mountain, according to deputy regional forester Robert Joslin, who ruled this week on an appeal by three environmental groups.The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club and American Wildlands asked the regional forester in September to reverse Dixie Supervisor Hugh Thompson's decision to sell 1 million board feet from about 460 acres southeast of Teasdale, Wayne County.
The groups believe the North Slope timber sale plan fails to protect deer, elk and wild turkey habitat, needlessly compromises roadless areas and relies on flawed economic rationale.
Joslin rejected each of the environmentalists' nine arguments.
Ken Rait, issues coordinator for SUWA, said he's disappointed by the regional forester's rejection of the appeal.
"This is the type of tragic resource management decision which exemplifies why the Forest Service is in such dire need of reform."
Further, the timber sale is not needed, Rait said. "They can easily go cut a million board feet somewhere else." (A million board feet is enough lumber to frame 70 typical, 1,700-square-foot homes.)
The Dixie is already planning to sell 24 million board feet of trees in salvage harvests to combat a bark-beetle infestation. That's in addition to 17 million board feet in regular sales, Rait said.
Underlying the environmentalists' concerns about the North Slope proposal is that trees would be cut in one of the last remaining roadless areas on the Dixie. Logging roads built for the harvest would preclude that area from being considered someday for wilderness designation, Rait said.
Dixie Forest officials said the harvest would have little impact on the roadless area and would improve the health of the forest.
"We feel it's going to increase tree growth and yields and provide benefits for wildlife, particularly the goshawk," said Dixie spokesman Mark Van Every.
Ivan Weber of the Sierra Club said the environmental groups are considering legal action. One administrative appeal remains, however: Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas in Washington, D.C., may choose within the next 15 days to review the regional forester's decision.