USFS to log roadless old growth areas on Blue Ribbon Rock Creek, Montana

http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/lolo/p...x.htm
"


12) "The EA admits that old growth forests in the Lolo may have
declined from 50-60% to as low
as 1-7% (EA3-3).
Response: This statement applies to the entire Northern Region, not to
the Lolo. A considerable
amount of this reduction is due to population growth, agriculture, and
past harvesting practices as
well as a lack of natural fire cycles. The Lolo has strived to
identify and retain levels of old growth
to meet Forest Plan objectives. Old growth inventories were conducted
in 1991, identifying old
growth stands in the Rock Creek drainage. Based on these surveys,
there is approximately 15%
of current or replacement old growth within the analysis area. Recent
analysis of Forest Inventory
and Analysis Data (Czaplewski, et. al. 2003; Project Record, Section D
– 8.10) also supports the
conclusion that there is sufficient old growth within the Rock Creek
Analysis area to meet Forest
Plan Standards of 8%."

15% left, and they want even more. Nice balance. The Lolo national
forest should be proud. Im sure with the help of the HFI, they can get
it down to 8% in no time.


NEWS RELEASE
July 29, 2003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

http://www.wildrockiesalliance....html


CONSERVATION GROUP CHALLENGES ROCK CREEK ROADLESS LOGGING

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies announced today that they are asking
the Forest Service to reconsider its plan to log 1113 acres in the
Lolo National Forest near Rock Creek. On Monday the Alliance for the
Wild Rockies submitted their appeal of the Rock Creek logging project
to the Forest Service's Regional Office. The timber sale would log 477
acres of Silver King, Welcome Creek, and Quigg Peak roadless lands.
The process would kill westslope cutthroat trout and the threatened
bull trout by increasing the amount of sediment by 1400% and discharge
toxic herbicides into Rock Creek, one of Montana's two blue ribbon
trout streams west of the continental divide


"The Lolo National Forest is under court order in another case to not
log in impaired watersheds until a cleanup plan is completed. The same
type of environmental damage is at stake here. The State of Montana
has found that Rock Creek and its tributaries are not meeting water
quality standards do to sediment pollution from logging. Instead of
working on cleaning up Rock Creek, the Lolo National Forest wants to
spend $1,180,000 to log inventoried roadless areas and dump more
sediment into Rock Creek," stated Michael Garrity, Executive Director
of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. The Lolo National Forest
Environmental Assessment found that the Lolo will lose $1,187,100
logging Rock Creek.

"Instead of subsidizing the timber industry to log roadless areas the
federal government should have used some of this money working on
developing a cleanup plan or TMDL to restore Rock Creek," Garrity
believes. Forest Service studies have shown inventoried roadless areas
provide clean drinking water and function as biological strongholds
for populations of threatened and endangered species. "Now the Forest
Service wants to violate the Clean Water Act and the Endangered
Species Act by dumping herbicides and hundreds of tons of sediment
from logging into a blue ribbon trout stream," stated Michael Garrity.
"This make no sense."