We have also sued in Federal District Court in Montana because the
Flathead NF failed to respond to a FOIA request from MFMU as they are
required to do by law. WE WON!! that lawsuit and have received a
small settlement. Learn
more about this lawsuit.
Montanans For Multiple Use has a legal action fund to cover the
expenses of litigation. We must have your help to be
successful. To donate to our Legal Action Fund go >>HERE<<
MFMU "forest roads and planning"
lawsuit objectives:
1. To stop (with injunction) any more road obliteration.
2. To stop (with injunction) any additional amendments to an expired
Forest Plan and force the Flathead to begin revision. The Flathead
plan is now nearly 18 yrs. old.
3. To invalidate any amendments after the plan was 10 years old.
4. To establish a court precedent that it is illegal to revise a Forest
Plan through numerous incremental amendments.
6. To establish a court precedent that it is illegal to abdicate
management responsibility to the USFWS and Endangered Species Act while
ignoring all the Multiple use laws USFS managers are charged with. Timber
sales cannot be allowed to go to zero.
7. To set a court precedent that after Forest Plans are over 10 years
old the revision process must begin so that a revision is completed by 15
years as required by law.
8. To require the Forest Service to open or restore roads illegally
closed or obliterated.
MONTANANS FOR MULTIPLE USE NEWS RELEASE June 10,
2003.
Steve Funke, President 406-257-3200
Fred Hodgeboom, Vice President 406-837-1363
Clarence Taber, Board of Directors 406-892-3722
Tuesday morning, June 10, Montanans For Multiple
Use (MFMU) and 13 co-plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit in Washington
DC against the US Department of Agriculture, US Forest Service and
numerous Federal personnel. The objective of the lawsuit is to stop the
incremental shutdown of National Forests to public access and active
professional management.
For nearly two decades extremist preservationist groups have abused the
no risk litigation rights available to them under the Equal Access to
Justice Act (EAJA) and other Federal statutes. Under the provisions of
EAJA and other federal laws, non-profit corporations are not responsible
for the actual cost to the Government if they file a frivolous suit and
lose every claim. If they win one claim, then the Government pays them all
the outrageous costs they turn in (e.g. "Friends of the
Bitterroot" were paid nearly a quarter million dollars to block 90%
of the planned timber salvage on only 10% of the burned area).
The effect of this endless stream of preservationist lawsuits has
discouraged the USFS from implementing any significant active forest
management. The cumulative effect of the extremist actions have reduced
the timber supplies, forced the closure of twenty sawmills in Montana,
prevented responsible mining, prevented oil and gas extraction, and
prevented meaningful agricultural production and recreation in the
National Forests. In Montana, as a result, citizens have endured the
reduction of their per capita income to the point where they are nearly
last in the Nation. At the same time, they have had to shoulder increasing
per capita tax burdens as jobs and state tax revenues decline.
Unfortunately, the USFS does not report the costs and effects of
obstructionist appeals and litigation to the public or to Congress.
Instead the USFS abdicates their management responsibilities to the US
Fish and Wildlife Service, activist extremist environmental groups, and
the courts. The USFS has made no real efforts to adhere to their statutory
responsibilities for protecting and managing the National Forests and to
ensure that National Forests contribute to local economic, social, and
ecologic sustainability. The USFS has failed to implement existing Forest
Plans, illegally revised Forest Plans by piecemeal amendments and site
specific actions, failed to disclose the cumulative effects of actions and
inactions, failed to revise the Forest Plan as required by law, failed to
monitor and evaluate consequences of past management actions, failed to
protect existing forests and watersheds, failed to provide a sustainable
flow of timber for local and national economic and social sustainability,
and failed to collaborate with local communities and tribes.
The suit seeks an injunction to stop any additional implementation of
illegal Forest Plan amendment provisions including amendments that call
for obliteration of public roads. The injunction will seek to stop any
additional amendments to Forest Plans over 10 years old. The suit will
seek restoration of illegally obliterated roads, restoration of healthy
fire resistant forest stands through active commercial timber management,
and to force the USFS to immediately revise existing Forest Plans over 10
years old, making full public disclosure, as required by the National
Forest Management Act.
Co-plaintiffs joining Montanans For Multiple Use
in this action represent a wide spectrum of forest user groups, business,
political and local governments. Co-plaintiffs are: Northwest Montana Gold
Prospectors Association, Leland's Honda, Leland J. Moore, Montanans For
Property Rights, Capital Trail Vehicle Association, Flathead Snowmobile
Association, North American Wolf Watch, Owens and Hurst Lumber Co.,
Senator Jerry O'Neil, Representative George Everett, Flathead County,
Sanders County, and Flathead Business and Industry Association.
Montanans For Multiple Use expect this
lawsuit to set a precedent for all National Forests, forcing them to obey
all the laws that govern their actions. In addition MFMU
intends for the suit to encourage citizens who are fed up with a plan
which lets our forests burn to band together and file lawsuits through
multiple use non-profit corporations to counteract the extreme
preservationists. Perhaps Congress will finally realize that the Equal
Access to Justice Act and The Endangered Species Act must be reformed if
Congress intends for the USFS professionals to manage the National Forests
instead of the courts.
Submitted by Fred D. Hodgeboom, Vice President, Montanans for Multiple
Use.
