ADP appeals Forest Service logging and drilling project

The Allegheny Defense Project appealed a U.S. Forest Service proposal that it says threatens one of the Allegheny National Forest’s only wilderness trout streams. According to ADP, the South Branch Kinzua Creek Project threatens the South Branch Kinzua Creek watershed because it would result in nearly 2,000 acres of logging. The conservation group also says the Forest Service plans to provide stone material to oil and gas companies at no cost for private oil and gas road construction.

“South Branch Kinzua Creek is a special and unique watershed,” said Megan Rulli, outreach coordinator for the ADP. “It is one of the only Wilderness Trout Streams in the Allegheny National Forest and the watershed contains parts of two unroaded areas that provide critical habitat for wildlife. The Forest Service proposal, however, will significantly alter the South Branch Kinzua Creek watershed just so it can cut more trees and allow oil companies to construct more roads and drill more oil and gas wells.”

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Forest Service withdraws Allegheny timber sale

The U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn its decision to approve over 1,700 acres of logging in the South Branch Kinzua Creek watershed in the Allegheny National Forest a few miles north of Kane. The Allegheny Defense Project filed an administrative appeal of the Forest Service’s timber sale approval on March 24, 2008. According to ADP, the timber sale was not in compliance with the Forest Service Chief’s decision regarding the recently revised forest management plan for the Allegheny.

The Forest Service approved the South Branch Kinzua Creek timber sale on February 7, 2008. The following week, the Forest Service Chief in Washington rescinded portions of the forest plan that the Allegheny Forest Service relied on to approve the timber sale. The Forest Service Chief’s decision on the forest plan stated that the Allegheny Forest Service failed to consider the cumulative effects of oil and gas development on local and regional air quality. The Forest Service Chief instructed the Allegheny Forest Service to revisit its analysis on this point and give the public further opportunity to comment on standards and guidelines for regulating private oil and gas drilling operations, which have dramatically increased in Pennsylvania’s only national forest in recent years.

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Forest Service proposes massive logging project on Mark Twain national forest

If you go to our "take action" page and look at the alert letter for the Southwest project, you will see some of the details of a brand new proposal by the Forest Service to log the hell out of a remote area of the Mark Twain national forest in Missouri. In fact, the area has been recognized as a potential wilderness area. It is a heavily used area, and this massive logging project is not compatible with that use.

I have already been contacted by a local resident who is outraged and wants to work hard to stop it. We will keep you informed as this proceeds. But it points out just how narrow minded and backwards the Forest Service as an agency is. All they know how to do is to log, burn, spray, and the like. We need a better agency to manage our precious national forests! Go to our Take Action page right now and tell the Forest Service NO to this horrible project.