A federal judge in Idaho ruled last week that the U.S. Forest Service under President Clinton did not follow public-disclosure requirements before settling on a plan to ban road-building and logging on more than 58.5 millions acres of national forestland. But Judge Edward Lodge did not grant the request from the state of Idaho to prohibit the plan from becoming law. Instead, he said he would delay his decision until he has had time to review a report from the Bush administration on the plan, which is due in early May. Doug Honnold, attorney for the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said enviro groups would appeal if Lodge overturned the plan.
