The Clearwater National Forest suffered another setback Friday when a federal magistrate in Montana reversed the 21 million board feet Fish Bait timber sale.
The judge also found forest officials cannot prove they are meeting a standard that says 10 percent of the forest must be old growth and that best management practices reduce the likelihood timber sales will cause landslides.
Another timber sale, the nine million board feet White Pine project on the Palouse District of the Clearwater Forest, can proceed, the judge ruled.
Judge Leif B. Erickson handed down the decisions in a lawsuit filed by environmentalists in 1997 that charges forest officials have failed to live up to a 1993 settlement agreement that says projects that add sediment to streams already suffering from too much sediment cannot proceed. The lawsuit also charged forest officials have over-estimated the amount of old growth timber on the forest.
On Monday, an official at the U.S. Forest Service northern region headquarters in Missoula said the 75 million board feet North Lochsa Face project cannot go forward without additional analysis. That brings the total of halted timber sales on the forest this week to nearly 100 million board feet.
"It's been a challenging week," said Doug Gochnour, forest planning and administration staff officer. "We are going to get North Lochsa Face fixed up and sent out as soon as we can. We haven't assessed the lawsuit to assess how quickly we can fix Fish Bait."
He said forest officials plan to take a hard look at the decision and fix the shortcomings in their plan.
"We still have the responsibility to manage the public's forests and that means managing everything. We have to manage the fish and wildlife, and the trees, recreation, all of it."
Environmentalists are pleased with Erickson's ruling and say it may have sweeping implications for the Clearwater Forest and other national forests.
John McCarthy of the Idaho Conservation League said the ruling may signal a change in the way the Forest Service does business.
"The whole spectrum of how they apply and use (best management practices) is under question now and the killer there is that it's going to apply to all projects," he said. "It really seems to me the days of big dumb timber sales, especially in roadless areas, are over."
Forest officials argued that audits on best management practices show they are effective in reducing sediments released into streams. But the environmentalists argued and Erickson agreed best management practices do nothing to reduce the risk of landslides on steep slopes.
"The court finds the FEIS (final environmental impact statement) conclusion that the project will have no effect on water quality to be arbitrary and capricious based on the undisputed risk of landslides in the FEIS," Erickson wrote.
Forest officials used a 1995 old growth report that included tentatively identified old growth stands in its totals to prove that 10 percent of the forest is indeed old growth. But environmentalists said field verification of the tentatively identified stands showed they were often off by as much as 50 percent.
Again, Erickson agreed and ruled the final environmental impact statement was arbitrary and capricious.
"We think it's a vindication of our concerns about their old growth inventory, which we have had for a long time," said Kristin Ruether of the Moscow-based Friends of the Clearwater
The suit was litigated by the Land and Water Fund of Boise on behalf of the Friends of the Clearwater, the Idaho Conservation League, the Clearwater Biodiversity Project of Moscow and the Ecology Center of Missoula.