Judge lifts Southwest logging ban

Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

On Wednesday, a federal judge lifted the ban on 11 national forests in Arizona and New Mexico. The ban had been in place since August 1995 to protect the threatened Mexican spotted owl and other forest species.

U.S. District Court Judge Roger Strand ordered the ban removed after attorneys for the U.S. Forest Service submitted a document called a biological opinion.

The document, prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in consultation with the Forest Service, had been ordered by then-Judge Carl Muecke as a condition for lifting the ban he issued.

Muecke, who retired about a month ago, rejected previous versions because he said they did not meet his qualifications.

The latest document met the court's conditions for lifting the ban, said Mark Hughes, an attorney for environmentalists whose lawsuit against the Forest Service resulted in the ban.

"While this biological opinion may be deeply flawed ..., it is nonetheless a biological opinion," Hughes told Strand. "We are very happy that it is, but what's troubling is how long it took the Forest Service to reach this point."

The document outlines monitoring and measuring requirements the Forest Service will use to track the progress of such forest species as the Mexican spotted owl. It also establishes areas of up to 600 acres around nesting owls where logging will be restricted.

Because of the lawsuit, tens of thousands of acres of forest will now be protected from logging, said Phoenix physician Robin Silver of the Tucson-based Southwest Center for Biological Diversity.

Pines, oaks and mixed conifers are particularly vital to the survival of the Mexican spotted owl, he said.

Federal biologists estimate about 2,700 of the owls exist in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and a small portion of Texas. An unknown number live in Mexico.

Silver said he wasn't thrilled with the content of the biological opinion and was uncertain what further legal steps environmentalists may take, if any.

"(The document) is in technical compliance, but it's a professional joke," Silver said. "We will continue to do what we can to save the last of the largest trees."

Pat Jackson, a Forest Service litigation officer in Albuquerque, N.M., said the agency was pleased the case was concluded. He dismissed comments by Strand and Silver that the Forest Service took too long to comply with the court.

"It's a very complex matter," Jackson said. "It took a long time to do this and it's unfortunate."