From the Duluth News Tribune
Minnesota's timber industry is asking a federal court to weigh in against the Sierra Club over a proposed timber management plan for the Superior National Forest.
The Sierra Club filed the suit in federal district court in May to stop the U.S. Forest Service from planning to sell trees north of Isabella in the Tomahawk area.
The Sierra Club said the Forest Service is failing to consider the effects of logging near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness when conducting nearby timber sales.
On Tuesday, the Minnesota Timber Producers Association, Minnesota Forest Industries, Hedstrom Lumber and North Shore Forest Products announced they have filed a motion with the court to allow them to defend the Forest Service plans against the Sierra Club challenge.
"This lawsuit, if it is allowed to proceed, will have significant impacts on the Superior National Forest," said Wayne Brandt, executive vice president of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association, in a statement on the case. "The area that the Superior National Forest reviewed in the Tomahawk EA is badly in need of management to remove dead and dying timber... "
The Sierra Club won a federal court case this year against the Forest Service for the Big Grass timber area using a similar argument of cumulative effects of logging over broad areas of the forest. The Forest Service accepted the court decision and is including the Big Grass area in an Environmental Impact Statement of potential timber sales in a large area along the Echo Trail northwest of Ely.
