Judge Lifts Injunctions on Biscuit Salvage Logging
The legal battle over logging at the site of 2002’s devastating Biscuit wildfire in southwestern Oregon continues. A federal judge has lifted the temporary injunctions that barred the U.S. Forest Service from logging in the forest, rejecting an appeal from Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. The group tried to stop logging on the grounds that the Forest Service had left it up to loggers to choose which trees to cut; the injunctions were lifted after the agency said it would choose and mark the trees itself. The enviro group, along with several others, said it would immediately appeal and seek another injunction. Meanwhile, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) requested that state Attorney General Hardy Myers (D) file a separate appeal, objecting to the federal decision to allow Biscuit salvage logging to proceed in roadless forest areas, citing a court decision upholding Clinton-era protections for roadless areas.
