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Sierra Club Lawsuits

Preventing Clearcutting in Arkansas' Hardwoods

Case Updates:

January 1, 2004

A federal judge temporarily shut down logging in Arkansas’ largest national forest, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and its coalition partners. The Club contends that the logging would violate the National Forest Management Act’s prohibition of clearcutting public lands in a manner that exceeds the forest’s ability to replenish itself. The Arkansas land scheduled for logging is home to a number of sensitive species including the scarlet tananger, the pileated woodpecker, and four fish species that could become endangered if their habitat is lost to the timber industry. Not so coincidentally, the Ouachita National Forest in 2001 had more millions of board feet logged (101 million) than any other single National Forest, including the Tongass in Alaska.

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