Montanan's For Multiple Use filed a complaint in US District Court in
Missoula, MT demanding that the US Forest Service obey the law. In June of
2000. MFMU filed a request with the Chief for documents which supported
claims made in the Roadless Area Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Our
request was acknowledged and assigned a control number by the Chief's
office along with a contact name to check on the status of our request.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that agencies have 20
working days to respond to requests. No information was received, so we
sent a followup letter in October, 2000 to the contact we had been
provided. That contact signed as receiving our letter, but no reply or
information ever came. In March of 2002 we sent another followup letter
demanding documents and an accounting from the Forest Service for all FOIA
request they have responded to on the roadless issue as well as responses
they have processed on other matters after receiving our request. That
letter was never acknowledged and it is obvious that the US Forest Service
is selective in who is provided information under the law.
Access to public documents and information is critical to organizations
such as MFMU. Our mission is to inform the broad cross section of the
public our membership represents. This demands that we track what is going
on by sifting through the morass of government paperwork and inform the
public on matters that affect their quality of life. The actions of the US
Forest Service speak louder than their words regarding service to the
public. The record shows that requests from preservation corporations are
processed promptly while MFMU requests are ignored. If the USFS is
selectively deciding when they will obey the law and using discrimination
as to whom they provide service as we believe they are doing, then
lawsuits appear to be our only alternative if we are to be effective.
Currently MFMU has a comprehensive FOIA request filed with the Flathead
National Forest as well as the Chief's office relative to road
obliteration and the proposed snowmobile closures. Our FOIA lawsuit should
be a timely wake-up call for the Forest Service that MFMU is a part of the
public they are supposed to serve as provided by law.
THE NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT HAS BEEN
COMPLETED AND MFMU HAS RECEIVED REIMBURSEMENT FOR LEGAL
FEES. MORE IMPORTANTLY THE FLATHEAD FOREST HAS BEEN
RESPONDING TO OUR FOIA REQUESTS MUCH QUICKER.
