The U.S. government on Tuesday temporarily blocked logging on 26 national forest areas in the Northwest until the tracts are surveyed for rare plants and animals, as required by the Northwest Forest Plan. A permanent injunction should be put in place by early October, though it would be lifted once wildlife surveys are conducted. The move was spurred by a federal court ruling made earlier this month, which halted nine timber sales because the U.S. Forest Service had failed to conduct required wildlife surveys on the land.
