Ecos Exhibit Double Standard
In Suit Over Public Notice

SANTA FE — Environmental extremists may not have a strong hold on common sense, and their tolerance for the productive enterprises which feed, clothe and house them is notably lacking, but no one can accuse them of a shortage of gall.

A New Mexico activist group sued the U.S. Forest Service last Friday, claiming the agency broke the law by not providing information on timber sales. It is the same group which recently cut a backroom deal with the same USFS to drive cattle off hundreds of sections of government land in the Southwest.

The grazing agreement caused such an uproar that it has prompted Congressional hearings, because it excluded the one faction that actually stands to be impacted by it — the ranchers who hold valid permits on that grazing land.

Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians boasted that its lawsuit has the potential to shut down, at least temporarily, up to 100 timber sales throughout the nation. Most of them are in Idaho, Arkansas and Alabama, far from the group’s base.

The 16-page lawsuit alleges that the Forest Service failed to give Forest Guardians an opportunity to participate in reviews of dozens of timber sales, despite its requests.

That violates a 1992 amendment to the National Forest Management Act aimed at ensuring public input in such sales, claims the lawsuit filed in federal court in Santa Fe.

"By law, the Forest Service must bend over backwards to provide the public with an opportunity to participate in its planning processes and review its decisions, but in this case, the Forest Service has gone out of its way to slam the door in our members' faces," said John Talberth, head of the organization.

Talberth apparently was not asked why his organization feels livestock producers deserve no input in decisions which affect their livelihoods and even contiguous private property, but his outfit should have a major role in running forests in which it has no stake or expertise.

There was no immediate comment from the Forest Service.

"We haven't received anything yet," said Mary Zabinski, a spokeswoman with the agency's southwestern regional office in Albuquerque.

The lawsuit asks the court to halt timber sales that have moved forward without the group’s participation, at least until they have an opportunity to intervene.

"It's high time the Forest Service took its responsibility to involve the public seriously," Talberth said, presumably with a straight face.

The complaint alleges violations of the National Forest Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.