Posted on 10/04/2019 5:36:03 AM PDT by cowpoke
The legal dispute centered on protecting a species of spotted owl, which had stopped all timber management — including fuelwood collection — which is critical to many families who use wood to heat their homes and for tribal activities. Other timber management activities, such as timber sales, forest thinning and prescribed burns, were excluded from the judge’s new ruling. The five New Mexico forests that were impacted by the ban were Carson National Forest, Cibola National Forest, Gila National Forest and Santa Fe National Forest...MORE
Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and Reps. Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland and Xochitl Torres Small wrote to U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen last Friday.
“We strongly encourage the Forest Service and other parties to the lawsuit to work quickly to respond to the ruling and resolve a variety of issues, including, but not limited to, traditional firewood gathering, tribal cultural activities, and forest restoration and fire mitigation projects,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We likewise strongly urge the Forest Service to undertake the action necessary to comply with the Endangered Species Act to allow the resumption of forest activities and minimize impacts to traditional uses and projects that improve the long-term health of the forest.”
From the Albuquerque Journal:
“We are pleased with this modification, which highlights the fact that we all want to do right by the communities we serve and reduce unnecessary burdens on communities that depend on the national forests for their sustenance,” Cal Joyner, Southwest regional forester, said in a news release.
“I want to assure you that we are committed to continuing our work to protect wildlife and wildlife habitat from catastrophic wildfire, and we thank you for your ongoing support, understanding and patience.”
Other timber management activities, including commercial timber sales, hazardous fuels reduction, forest thinning and prescribed burns to prevent wildfires, are still suspended under the order. Horning continued to blame the Forest Service for creating what he said was “an unnecessary panic.”
He said the Forest Service didn’t have to go as far as suspending firewood permit sales. “We are grateful that the judge granted our request (to modify the original order),” Horning said in a news release. “As soon as the injunction was issued, we engaged the Forest Service to discuss how the injunction would be implemented without causing an interruption in this season’s fuel wood gathering. The Forest Service refused to speak with us, and instead chose to create an unnecessary panic. Had the agency consulted with us instead of manufacturing a crisis, all this unnecessary conflict and anxiety could have been avoided.”
---To begin with, cutting firewood on a national forest is not all that simple a process. As an example, see the 48 page Gila National Forest 2019 Firewood Guide
---I'm relatively sure the Forest Service consulted with their general counsel, who provided their interpretation of the original court order, and most likely advised that any modification would require action by the judge, not consultation with WildEarth Guardians.
---Horning says the modification "allows wood gatherers who sell pickup truckloads of firewood to resume their enterprises under personal use permits." I hope he is right, but I'm not so sure. On the national FS website for Tree Cutting, the second guideline states, "Wood or Christmas trees cannot be sold." Personal use permit holders can have designated cutters, and perhaps those cutters are selling their labor to the permit holders, not the wood. I have limited knowledge in this area, but it appears a personal use permit may not allow you to "sell pickup truckloads of firewood" as an enterprise.
---I have the sneaking suspicion that the quick work by the enviros had more to do with satisfying the "off-the-grid", greenie types than concern for the average firewood harvester.
---While being touted as a great victory, none of this addresses the biggest threat to the public and the owl: wildfire. Many thousands of acres in this region are rated as a high or very high fire risk. The Governor doesn't mention wildfire, and Joyner only mentions it in relation to protecting "wildlife and wildlife habitat from catastrophic wildfire." At least the NM Congressional Delegation, in their letter, refer to resolving "forest restoration and fire mitigation projects."
---However, the delegation also says, “We likewise strongly urge the Forest Service to undertake the action necessary to comply with the Endangered Species Act...". There is no mention of disagreeing with the judge's interpretation of the act, and no mention of amending the act to prevent similar decisions in the future. One can only assume, then, the delegation is in agreement with the decision that has halted all fire mitigation actions for the foreseeable future.
---I did get a kick out of the Governor's statement this demonstrated the good that can happen, "When we pull together in the same direction". I mean, is it possible to pull together in opposite directions? No matter, she has made it clear that as long as she is Governor, whenever we pull together, it must be in the same direction. Pulling together in opposite directions is completely verboten.
This type of political interference with the forrest service timber management is exactly why hundreds of Californians burned alive in the destruction of the town once called Paradise.
Politicans should not attempt to manage forests until they get forestry degrees.
Why do we need three branches of government?
Perhaps we could save money if we eliminated the Executive and Legislative branch and let judges rule over us. /s
Yes, using the ESA, NEPA and so on, the enviros are using the courts to control land use.
1. Judges making policy. Wrong on the face of it.
2. “other timber management activities, such as timber sales, forest thinning and prescribed burns, were excluded from the judge’s new ruling.” Those of some of the very things in good forest management that helps prevent forest fires.
Does owl taste like chicken?
“Those of some of the very things in good forest management that helps prevent forest fires.”
Exactly. And those actions are now prevented on 5 forests in NM and one in Az., or approximately 12 million acres.
Here we go, spotted owl again. Going back to 2000, a misguided ruling prohibiting the electric coop in Otero County NM from trimming branches away from transmission lines, ostensibly to protect the spotted owl, resulted in many well done spotted owls.
Did they taste like chicken?
Wood collected in Oct. surely will be ready to burn by Halloween. /s
NM Ping!
There’s a lot of dead wood in the forests, that’s usually taken first.
If that Judge were around, we would still have the Tyrannosaurus Rex roam our neighborhoods and WE would taste like chicken.
really don’t know. In the late 80, here in Washington State they use to sell “Spotted Owl Helper” for those loggers put out of work by the Endangered Species Act.
The owl, snail darter, etc are all just convenient excuses for enviromental activism. The enviromentalists are anti-human. They think that humans are a cancer on the planet, and the only way to atone to mother earth is to try to eliminate as many humans as possible, by shutting them off from natural resources.
I cut only dead wood (my forest) and try to get it split by May. Late this year (july), our first fire this AM was a slow burn. The forests are way overloaded with fuel. The ban never should have occurred. The only time to halt collecting is red flag weather.
NM list PING!
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I'll be posting an article on another critter, a small lizard, that occupies oil drilling areas of the Permian Basin. The enviro-facists are using it in an attempt to shut down the drilling/production. Secondary objective - prevent "global warming" from fossil fuels.
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