Judge Okays Dam Fix
In Wilderness Area

MISSOULA, Mont. —(AP)— A federal judge has authorized motorized equipment to quickly make emergency repairs on a dam in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said safety must prevail over solitude.

Molloy rejected the claim of three environmental activist groups that the plan of the Tin Cup Water Co., endorsed by the U.S. Forest Service, violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wilderness Act.

The three groups still intend to press their legal contention that the Forest Service should have written an environmental impact statement for the project.

They also contend the work should be done with as primitive tools as possible to minimize impacts in the wilderness area. Molloy's ruling did not get to the core legal issues of that claim.

The work on the earthen dam, 14 miles southwest of Darby, Mont., is expected to begin within the next two weeks.

The dam, seven miles inside the wilderness boundary, holds back 2420 acre feet of irrigation water. It was built in 1906 and provides late-summer irrigation for about 1300 acres of private land.

State officials contend it has needed repair since 1990, comparing its condition to that of a bald tire on a car. The Forest Service approved the water company's project plans earlier this year, stressing the need for immediate action because of safety concerns about the outlet pipe, and attorney Peggy Sanner, representing the activists, conceded the dam is unsafe and should be repaired or breached.

The activist groups contend, however, that the Forest Service should have also considered the "environmental consequences" of the second phase of repairs planned for 1998. They claimed the two phases are "connected actions."

Judge Molloy said the two phases are clearly related, but he was not persuaded that they are interdependent. The outlet pipe repair can be done without the second phase and is primarily an emergency repair, he ruled.

Sanner contended that if dam repairs are allowed as proposed, the character of the wilderness will be changed irreparably.

The two-week project will use helicopters and other mechanized equipment that will temporarily alter the wilderness experience near the dam, Molloy said, but there was no proof of lasting harm.