The WildLaw Letter

For Members and Friends July 2001

WildLaw and our clients the Biodiversity Legal Foundation and Wild Alabama have won one of the first victories in an environmental lawsuit filed against the Bush Administration. In March, WildLaw filed a suit under the Endangered Species Act against Secretary of Interior Gale Norton and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their unlawfully delay of a final decision to list the Vermilion Darter as an endangered species.

On April 18, 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made a 12-month finding to proceed with listing the Vermilion Darter as an endangered species. On November 17, 2000, the FWS decided to stop all work on listing species under the ESA. A directive from the Clinton Administration mandated that the FWS stop work on the Vermilion Darter's listing package (as well as the listing proposals for dozens of other species around the country); and that moratorium ordered that the FWS not list the Darter by the legally mandated, one-year deadline of April 18, 2001. Subsequent to our sending in November 2000 the 60-day notice letter stating we would file this suit, the Clinton Administration "found" the money to complete the Darter listing. Once the Bush Administration came into office, Secretary Norton once again pulled the Darter's listing proposal, all without any legal justification.

The FWS has agreed to finalize the Darter's listing proposal by November 19, 2001 and to pay our attorney fees and costs. This species is critically endangered, and it has been the subject of a prior emergency listing petition. The Darter exists in only one seven-mile-long segment of Turkey Creek, Jefferson County, Alabama, and that habitat is being heavily impacted by development, sedimentation, discharges from a waste water treatment plant, and other pollution.

The Forest Service has settled all claims in the regional lawsuit filed by Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund, WildLaw and the Southern Environmental Law Center. 79 timber sales have been stopped and sent back to the drawing board, protecting (temporarily, unfortunately), more than 100,000 acres of public land. This victory represents the first major win against the Forest Service on a regional level. Covering logging projects from Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, the case stopped not only the 79 named timber sales but also halted work on dozens more timber sales being planned.

Despite such a major stoppage of logging in the South, the Forest Service is wasting no time in reproposing many of the stopped timber sales in order to ramp up their logging volumes. In the Homochitto National Forest in southern Mississippi, the Forest Service just proposed four massive sales at one time. The Analysis Unit 7 project has logging on 1,491 acres. The Analysis Unit 12 project logs 1,679 acres. The Block 20 project logs 2,360. The First Thinning 2002 project will log 2,477 acres. This is a total of 8,007 acres of logging, including 1,287 acres of clearcutting. None of these projects comply with the legal requirements to inventory and protect rare wildlife. WildLaw will be fighting all these projects as well as any others that do not comply with the law.

Congratulations to the town of Drummond, Wisconsin! Due to the vocal outrage of local residents, the monitoring by Superior Wilderness Action Network (SWAN) and WildLaw, and the amenability of the local snowmobile club, the Forest Service suspended its proposal to build a new snowmobile trail on June 18, 2001. The Wisconsin National Forests have over 850 miles of groomed snowmobile trails. This new trail and its two miles of construction on the Washburn Ranger District were not needed and is a welcome withdrawal. SWAN opposes all new trail and road construction on the Northwoods national forests.

The Bush Administration is ramping up plans to drill for oil and gas in several National Forests in the South, including the Conecuh in southern Alabama and the De Soto in southern Mississippi. WildLaw and our clients are fighting hard against these plans which would fragment recovering Longleaf Pine forests and destroy habitat for rare species such as the Gopher Tortoise.

The Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama is proposing to permit a private company to drill an oil and gas well in a recovering Longleaf Pine forest that is prime habitat for the rare Gopher Tortoise and numerous other rare species. Longleaf Pine/Wiregrass is the rarest forest ecosystem type in North America, and we cannot afford to lose ANY more of it.

Due to the clear presence of Gopher Tortoises and their burrows, this site also is highly probable habitat for other sensitive species such as the Dusky Gopher Frog, the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, the Florida Pine Snake and the Pineland Hoary Pea. The site is also potential habitat for the threatened Eastern Indigo Snake. The Forest Service should examine, and indeed select, a better alternative than this site. Since the well will be 12,500 feet deep, moving the drill site a quarter to a third of a mile should be no problem. With the Bush Administration constantly touting the benefits of directional drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we see no reason why a very little directional drilling will not also work in the Conecuh. The best available technology used for drilling on public lands in Alaska will be used for public lands in Alabama. The Forest Service should consider fully at least four alternative sites. Each alternative would forgo the construction and use of a new access road. Each alternative would not have nearly the serious impacts on Gopher Tortoises and associated wildlife as the current proposal.

Projects proposed in Mississippi have similar problems, and we intend to use the full force of the law to improve or stop these proposals altogether.

The Regional Forester ruled in our favor in an appeal WildLaw filed on behalf of Wild South and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project over the "Timber Activities" in Compartments 3, 25, 53, 57, 62, and 80 on the Osceola National Forest, National Forests in Florida. The main issue was the failure of the Forest Service to inventory and monitor for imperiled wildlife species. The Regional Forester found "that the BE and EA do not demonstrate how the survey and inventory information provided for the Gopher tortoise, Eastern indigo snake, Sherman's fox squirrel, Florida gopher frog and striped newt meet the Forest Plan's standards for appropriate inventories/surveys." This logging project would have logged 1,040 acres. An acre is about the size of a football field, and there are 640 acres in a square mile.

In early March, on behalf of the Utah Environmental Congress, WildLaw filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service over a logging proposal that includes logging in an inventoried roadless area. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against the Fishlake National Forest over the Monroe Mountain Ecosystem Restoration Project. The Utah Environmental Congress alleges numerous environmental law violations by the Forest Service. The Monroe Mountain Project covers 50,000 acres and includes twelve watersheds within the Sevier River Basin, and five roadless areas. According to the Fishlake National Forest's Plan, the area is supposed to be managed to emphasize the habitat needs of one or more wildlife management indicator species and to increase species richness and diversity. Denise Boggs, Executive Director of the Utah Environmental Congress said, "The Fishlake National Forest has no idea of the status of imperiled wildlife species, and instead of protecting their habitat as mandated, they want to destroy it".

The timber sale will log about 9 million board feet of timber, and the five roadless areas in the project area are home to the Bonneville cutthroat trout, Southwest willow flycatcher, boreal toad, flammulated owl, northern goshawk, three-toed woodpecker, mountain lion and black bear. The UEC pointed out to the Forest Service that livestock continue to overgraze the land and pollute the streams, but they continually refuse to address the issue. The Fishlake National Forest has gone so far as to blame overgrazing on deer and elk, yet those populations are declining. By the Forest Service's own numbers there are 4,280 livestock in the area and only 700 elk. Although the area is supposed to be managed for wildlife habitat, it is clearly being managed for the benefit of local ranchers.

Melissa Barbanell, with the firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, is the local Utah counsel for the lawsuit.

WildLaw's Southern Appalachians Office has appealed two decisions in the National Forests of North Carolina.

Bull Pen Road: At the urging of NCDOT, the Forest Service is proposing to pave a section of Bull Pen Road in Jackson County, NC.  Simultaneously, another section of this road is being paved to the west of this project area.  This route has the potential to become an unofficial bypass for travelers heading from south of Cashiers, NC to Highlands. Unfortunately, the majority of this road runs adjacent to the Ellicott Rock Wilderness Area, a pristine and beautiful tract encompassing much of the Chattooga River watershed. Our clients' concerns include increased traffic and speed, road mortality for animals, decreased migration, and degradation of high-quality scenery. An administrative appeal has been filed, with a decision expected in mid to late July.  The appellants are Appalachian Voices, the Western North Carolina Alliance, and Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project.

WLOS Television Tower Replacement: At the urging of local TV station WLOS, the Forest Service has agreed to allow construction of a replacement tower atop one of the most prominent ridges in the southern Appalachians--Mount Pisgah. Originally constructed in the 1950's, with an exclusive license to broadcast commercially, and before implementation of current environmental regulations, the television tower stands nearly 300 feet high, and is an eyesore for visitors to the Blue Ridge Parkway, Pisgah National Forest, and Shining Rock Wilderness.  The proposal by the Forest Service ignored impacts to sensitive migratory bird species.  Numerous studies have documented the mortality that is caused by towers over 200 feet high, especially from the night-time lighting, and in areas with frequent fog and low clouds. Mount Pisgah, at 5,720 feet is often obscured by fog and clouds, even on days of relatively good weather. Other alternatives to this site should have been considered.

WildLaw, on behalf of Superior Wilderness Action Network (SWAN), appealed a 1,300 acre salvage sale on the Walker Ranger District of the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota for the second time. The first appeal resulted in the District Ranger withdrawing the sale. The basis for the second appeal was that 26 stands of the sale did not qualify as salvage. In fact, WildLaw pointed out, the Environmental Analysis for the sale stated these stands did not pose a "threat of fire, disease, or failure to regenerate naturally." The Forest Service agreed to withdraw 23 of the 26 disputed stands from commercial sale for a total of 196 acres.

Thanks to the generosity of Fred Stanback through the Stanback Internship Program at Duke University, WildLaw has two interns this summer helping with our work. Kate Kiefhaber is our 2001 summer intern in our Alabama office. A student at Duke University, Kate is majoring in Public Policy Studies and French. As part of the Stanback Internship Program, Kate is working with WildLaw on developing strategic plans and new policy direction in our forest defense campaigns.

Our intern in the North Carolina office is Kathryn Garrison, who is working as a summer law clerk for us. An incoming second-year law student at Duke, Kathryn is doing vital legal research for our work in fighting air pollution and cleaning up degraded waterways.

In a joint project between WildLaw and the National Forest Protection Alliance, a Southeastern Field Organizer has been hired to work on building support for ending commercial logging (ECL) on the National Forests. Andrew George, former Executive Director of the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, has been hired for the position. Andrew has a strong record of grassroots organizing and campaign development.

WildLaw's new DefendTheForests.org program raised the money for this position from very generous donors, and the actual position is housed within NFPA, which also has organizers in other parts of the country. Andrew will work to build support for ECL in the Southeast and will help build the capacity of grassroots forest protection groups to do forest watch, media outreach, public education, and lobbying. WildLaw will provide support for the position in terms of finances and legal expertise to help groups with which Andrew works deal with their growing administrative structure and fight timber sales and other bad projects in the southeastern National Forests.

WildLaw, Dauphin Island Sea Lab Director George Crozier and a number of other activists and organizations from around the country are featured in the cover story of the July-August 2001 issue of E Magazine. The article, "On the Blue Frontier Across America, Activists are Fighting to Save Our Living Oceans," is written by renown environmental writer and adventurer David Helvarg. The magazine is now available in stores. Covering activists and organizations from around the country, the article is a great primer on the work being done to help protect our nation's oceans and coastal zone areas. The article is a follow-up to David's great book, Blue Frontier: Saving America's Living Seas (W.H. Freeman April 2001). The book is highly recommended.

WildLaw's Montgomery headquarters has moved. Our lease in the old Union Train Station ran out, and after more than four years there, WildLaw's main office had to move. Our new office is a small building across from the Governor's mansion, so he must ride by us every day and be reminded of how he has not protected our state's environment.

The new address is 1019 South Perry Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104. Phone numbers remain the same.

WildLaw Main Office: 1019 South Perry Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104. 334/265-6529, 334/265-6511 (fax). E-mail: WildLaw@aol.com for Ray Vaughan.

WildLaw North Woods Office: 12005 41st Ave. N., #201, Plymouth, Minnesota 55441. 612/551-9979 (office & fax). E-mail: WildLawNW@aol.com for Leigh Haynie.

WildLaw Southern Appalachian Office: 20 Battery Park Avenue, Suite 405 in Asheville, North Carolina 28801. 828/232-1157, 828/232-1162 (fax). E-mail: WildLawNC@aol.com for Steve Novak.

WildLaw Virginias Office: 9544 Pine Forest Road, Copper Hill, VA 24079. 540/929-4222. E-mail: WildLawVA@rev.net for Tammy Belinsky.

WildLaw Florida Office: 2424 Ian Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32303. 850/523-0972 (phone/fax). E-mail: WildLawFL@yahoo.com for Brett Paben.

Web site for all offices: www.wildlaw.org.