Contact: Joshua Davis, Conservation Organizer, 612-659-9124
Enormous timber sale threatens Boundary Waters and Roadless Areas
US Forest Service proceeds on largest logging sale in a decade on Superior National ForestMinneapolis — This week the U.S. Forest Service announced plans to conduct the largest logging sale in Minnesota's Superior National Forest in at least 10 years. The Sierra Club and other conservation groups are concerned that the project may put the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at risk, and give the green light to logging in many of the state's last roadless areas.
"The public must be heard before the Forest Service is allowed to proceed on a plan that may imperil our priceless BWCAW and roadless areas," said Joel Larimore, a volunteer with the Sierra Club. "We will be engaging our members in northern Minnesota and across the state to make sure the public is aware of the danger and actively involved." The public may comment on the timber sale from April 8 to May 9.
The logging sale, named the "Echo Trail Area Forest Management Project," begins to implement the 2004 Forest Plan, a long-term logging and restoration schedule for Superior National Forest. The notice in Friday's Federal Register says the US Forest Service plans to log over 16,000 acres of the national forest. The logging will happen in an enormous area between Ely, Lake Vermilion, and the Echo Trail, surrounding a large portion of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. The project will also determine where ATV trails will be built.
"The Forest Service must consider the impact of this logging on wildlife and people in the wilderness," said Larimore. "The large amount of logging proposed so close to the wilderness is a troubling sign."
Under the Superior National Forest management plan released last year, the majority of Minnesota's last 90,000 acres of wild lands will be opened to logging and road building. Nearly one third of the wild forests lie in the Echo Trail project area.
Conservation groups have launched a statewide effort to protect the wild forests under the Wilderness Act. To view a map of the forest lands recommended for wilderness protection, visit www.protectmnwilderness.org.
For background on the Superior National Forest management plan, visit: