U.S. Forest Service Sued Over Logging in Oregon
Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:59 AM BST
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A group of U.S. Forest Service employees has filed a lawsuit against the federal agency because the workers say it is allowing lumber companies to log forests recovering from wildfires in violation of environmental laws.
At issue in the lawsuit is part of the 5,839 acres of ponderosa pine, larch, Douglas and white fir burned in July 2002 in a fire in the Malheur National Forest.
The Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture, "has decided to log 'dying trees' in the Easy Fire Recovery Project that are, in fact alive and well," said a lawsuit filed on Friday in U.S. District Court for Oregon by the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics.
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The charred forests of the western United States have become a battleground pitting the Bush administration and timber industries against environmental groups and others.
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