Montanans For Multiple Use (MFMU) and thirteen
co-plaintiffs filed a lawsuit June 10, 2003 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 that has occurred as a result of a series of piecemeal
amendments cumulatively resulting in revised Forest Plans without
following the process required by law. The law requires Forest Plans to
be revised no later than 15 years after adoption. The Flathead Forest
Plan is over eighteen years old and additional amendments alleged to be
"non-significant" are still being processed.
The MFMU complaint alleged other violations of law
regarding failure of the Forest Service to "foster and promote the
general welfare" by failure to manage and protect forest resources;
failure to coordinate outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed,
wildlife and fish, and wilderness; failure to comply with the
requirements of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement and Fairness
Act; and for violating the provision of the Revised Statute 2477 by
closing and or/obliterating roads that are not owned by the Forest
Service.
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 coordinate with local governments and
tribes.
In October of 2003, local, regional and national
preservationist organizations that have contributed to the current
crisis of mismanagement in the National Forests, intervened to join with
the US Forest Service in their defense against the Montanans For
Multiple Use Lawsuit. The organizations defending the Forest Service
actions and failures to act are the Swan View Coalition, Wildlands
Coalition for Prevention of Roads, Montana Chapter Sierra Club, and
Defenders of Wildlife.
Montanans For Multiple Use filed a Preliminary
Injunction request in April, 2004 asking the Court to order the Forest
Service to stop processing additional amendments and to stop
implementation of illegal amendments on all National Forests while the
Forest Plans due or overdue for revision are revised in good faith.
Judge Richard W. Roberts held a hearing on August 16,
2004 in Washington DC District Court where he denied MFMU’s request
for the preliminary injunction. Judge Roberts denied the request for a
number of reasons including his belief that MFMU failed to prove
immediate danger of harm due to continuing USFS road obliterations and
Forest Plan amendments while current plans are alleged to be in a
revision process.
Subsequently, the Forest Service filed Motions
requesting that all of MFMU’s complaints be dismissed on various
technical legal arguments. MFMU’s opposition briefing was completed by
February, 2005 where the case has been languishing with no decision from
the Court for two and a half years.
In 2006 the case was transferred from Judge Richard
W. Roberts to Chief Administrative Judge Tomas F. Hogan. Judge Hogan
scheduled and heard and oral hearing on the case on March 9, 2007.
MFMU attorneys Mark Pollot, Boise Idaho, and Robin
Grover, Washington DC, both thought the oral hearing went very well.
After the hearing Mark Pollot said, "Judge Thomas Hogan seemed very
concerned about the delay in this case. I believe he will try move the
case forward with a decision as soon as possible."
"We are expecting a decision any time now. That
decision will determine which of our complaints will move forward, or if
we will have to appeal. A victory on any one of the issues we raise in
our complaint will establish significant legal precedent that would
apply to all National Forests." said MFMU President Fred Hodgeboom.
MFMU currently has additional record requests pending at the Flathead
National Forest as a result of recent approval of Amendment 24 and
denial of MFMU’s appeal.
It is significant to note that one of the
co-plaintiffs, Owens and Hurst Lumber Company of Eureka, MT, has gone
out of business since the Judge Roberts decision that we failed to prove
harm thus denying our injunction request, and the Flathead National
Forest has closed about 350,000 additional acres to snowmobiling, and
hundreds more miles of roads and trails to motorized access with
additional closures proposed as part of nearly every project.
Co-plaintiffs: Flathead County, Sanders County, Owens
and Hurst Lumber Co., Flathead Business and Industry Association,
Senator Jerry O’Neil, Representative George Everett, Leland J. Moore,
Lelands Honda, Montanans For Property Rights, Capital Trail Vehicle
Association, Flathead Snowmobile Association, Northwest Montana Gold
Prospectors, and North American Wolf Watch.
Submitted by Fred Hodgeboom, President MFMU
