A coalition of conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday (March 27) over its Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan, arguing that the agency violated federal law by downplaying the harmful impacts of a dramatic expansion in logging and by failing to include binding standards to restore important native ecosystems.
The Plan guides the long-term future of North Carolina’s Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests, which are among the most visited and most beloved public lands in the country. The Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan outlines where activities such as logging and roadbuilding will occur, and sets objectives for future timber harvests. The Plan will determine what happens on these forests for a generation.
The Forest Service was handed a collaboratively developed Forest Plan proposal that allowed for logging while minimizing harmful impacts. However, the agency rejected the compromise out of hand in favor of a Plan that aims to quintuple the amount of logging in the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests and expand logging and roadbuilding into sensitive habitats. More than 23,000 people commented to oppose the Plan which will degrade important ecosystems, imperil rare species, make our forests less resilient, and hurt local economies that depend on recreation and tourism within the forests.
These flaws were magnified by Hurricane Helene, which not only wreaked havoc on western North Carolina communities but also decimated forests. The Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan did not anticipate the level of damage brought by this kind of climate change-fueled storm, instead justifying high levels of logging by arguing that there is not enough disturbance from storms and fire. Logging healthy forests at the high levels called for in the Plan — levels the agency has refused to adjust in the wake of Helene — will compound the harm to these landscapes.
The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and MountainTrue in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
Read the full news release from SELC.
"Our national forests are reeling from massive storm destruction, yet they're still subject to a management plan that includes unrealistic timber targets. Failing to change the Plan would create additional threats to the natural beauty treasured by millions of visitors and the environmental health required for the survival of many rare and endangered species," said David Reid, National Forests Issue Chair for the Sierra Club's North Carolina Chapter. "We can't wait any longer for the U.S. Forest Service to take the initiative to correct its Plan to achieve the balance necessary to protect these remarkable lands."