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Controversial Logging Plans Near Grand Canyon Withdrawn by Administration; Kaibab Plateau Spared

Case Updates:

February 14, 2006

In a victory for the environment, today the Forest Service handed out a huge Valentine's present when it announced withdrawal of a controversial old growth timber sale in the Grand Canyon Game Preserve, just three miles from the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Under the guise of fire prevention and protection, the Forest Service proposal would have permitted thousands of acres of forests to be logged in the area, including throughout popular camping and recreation sites overlooking Grand Canyon National Park. The North Rim, and especially the Kaibab Plateau where the timber sale is located, has always been a paradise for wildlife and impressed president Theodore Roosevelt so much that he designated as a Game Preserve in 1906. Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity had challenged the East Rim portion of the timber sale in the Kaibab National Forest in 2004, and after a lower court ruling last year the lawsuit was sent to the Court of Appeals. The move to abandon the controversial timber plan should be a call for the Forest Service to fund projects that actually protect communities from wildfire through legitimate fuels reduction programs.

February 1, 2004

Once again, rather than clearing dry brush and small trees near endangered towns, the Bush administration wants to log remote wilderness to financially benefit the timber industry. The pristine forests of the Kaibab Plateau lie adjacent to the remote north rim of the Grand Canyon. President Teddy Roosevelt protected the area as the Grand Canyon Game Preserve in 1906. The area includes a great swath of ponderosa pine, with extensive stands of old-growth forest and habitat for sensitive wildlife, including the rare Kaibab squirrel. Enter the Bush administration, which proposes to log thousands of old trees in the forest, under the pretense of fire prevention. Too bad they forgot to mention that the nearest town is over 48 miles away. Now the Sierra Club and its coalition partners have filed a compelling legal challenge to the ill-conceived plan. If successful, the lawsuit will save 7,500 acres of old ponderosa pines and preserve this national treasure for future generations.

Details and Documents:

Logging project north of Canyon shelved
February 15, 2006, by Cyndy Cole, Arizona Daily Sun

Forest Service cancels logging near canyon
February 14, 2006, by Beth DeFalco, Seattle Post Intelligencer

Bush Administration Forced to Abandon Plans to Log Near Grand Canyon
February 14, 2006, Sierra Club Press Release

Battle lines are drawn over Arizona's forests
September 13, 2004, by David Whitney, Sacramento Bee.
Presidential candidates Bush and Kerry bring the forestry debate to the Grand Canyon.

National Forests Fall Victim to Firefighting
June 29, 2004, by Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post.
An article about the East Rim section of the North Kaibab National Forest in Arizona.