Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

WildEarth Guardians filed a formal objection to an unprecedented logging plan for the national forests in Arizona.The Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) spans four national forests from the south rim of the Grand Canyon east to the New Mexico state line. The proposal would log or burn more than 9,000 square miles over a period of 10years, including 650 square miles of clear-cutting. On average, 45,000 acres will be logged annually. The proposal required construction of 520 miles of road for logging trucks to access the forest.

“Reacting to uninformed political pressure for heavy handed intervention, the Forest Service has concocted a new boondoggle.” Said Bryan Bird, Wild Places Program Director at WildEarth Guardians. “The science is clear: dry western forests need fire and the most cost-effective response is to manage the immediate surroundings of forest communities.”

WildEarth Guardians’ protest,along with another from distinguished forest scientist Dr. William Baker, makes the case that the proposed actions are counter-productive, expensive and likely to harm more than help the forests. Climate change in the form of warmer, dryer conditions is rapidly affecting southwestern forests killing many trees and requiring more small tree recruitment not less. The forest service plan would nearly eliminate the next generation of pine.

“In characteristic style, the Forest Service resists science in favor of the one-sized-fits all logging scheme.”Said Kevin Mueller WildEarth Guardians’ Utah-Southern Rockies Conservation Manager. “We’re demanding the agency consider information that would counter their expensive, heavy-handed proposal.”

Based on outdated science, the4FRI plan waives hard won, protections for the spotted owl and northern goshawk and is based on a dubious assumption that fire is more harmful to forests than intensive logging and road building. Eighteen Mexican spotted owl protected activity centers would have trees up to 18” in diameter logged and 70 protected activity centers would receive prescribed fire, including 54 core areas.