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TechnoratiJudge Overturns Bush Administration Logging Rule
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled from Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service failed to take a hard look at the environmental impacts of changing the rule to make it easier to cut down forest habitat of species such as the spotted owl and salmon on 193 million acres of national forests.
![[FILE - In this May 8, 2003, file photo, a northern spotted owl sits in a tree in the Deschutes National Forest near Camp Sherman, Ore. On Tuesday, June 30, 2009 federal judge has struck down the Bush Administration's attempt to loosen a national forest planning rule that was the foundation of logging cutbacks to protect the northern spotted owl. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/owl-2.jpg "owl-2.jpg")
"I am hopeful that this is the last nail in the coffin to (President George W.) Bush's assault on our public forests," said Pete Frost, an attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, which represented plaintiffs in one of two cases challenging the rule.
At stake was a provision of the National Forest Management Act that required maintaining viable populations of species that indicate the health of an ecosystem, such as the spotted owl. The Bush administration changed the rule last year so it required a framework of protection, rather than maintaining viable populations of wildlife.
The ruling marked the third time federal courts have turned back attempts to change the 1984 version of what is known as the viability rule within the National Forest Management Act.
The judge wrote that an environmental impact statement done by the Forest Service "does not evaluate the environmental impacts of the 2008 rule," and the agency failed to comply with Endangered Species Act requirements to consult with other federal agencies on whether the rule changes would jeopardize the survival of endangered species.
Instead, the Forest Service argued that the rule changes themselves had no direct environmental impact until they were applied to specific projects.
The judge admonished the Forest Service for simply copying legal arguments already rejected in two court rulings into their latest justification for the rule change.
Forest Service spokesman Joe Walsh said in an e-mail that he could not immediately comment on the ruling.
Andy Stahl, director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics in Eugene, said until the National Forest Management Act was enacted in 1976, the Forest Service had wide latitude to do as it pleased with little oversight - a situation the Bush administration hoped to recreate.
After President Bush was elected in 2000, his administration systematically worked to increase national forest logging by changing the rules for enforcing environmental laws, but was consistently turned back by federal court rulings.
"This court decision sends the Forest Service back to square zero and upholds the promise ... that forest plans be meaningful and they actually protect forests," he said.
1 Comment so far
Show Alllet us thank our wise friends (the owls), who were often feared and persecuted in anglo culture, but greatly admired by many indigenous americans .....
the contrast b/w our cultural perspective (shop till you drop) and the native american cultures is stark and underscores - why our sick culture is maniacally determined to destroy the forest (the darkness, the natural, the unknown - death).
it's inspiring that people fighting for the owl's right to exist are preserving the sanctity of the forest for all beings...
thank you judge claudia wilken.
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Owls in Mythology & Culture
http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php?section=Owl+Mythology&title=Myth+and+Culture&page=2
{Owls in English Folklore
Folklore surrounding the Barn Owl is better recorded than for most other Owls. In English literature the Barn Owl had a sinister reputation probably because it was a bird of darkness, and darkness was always associated with death. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the poets Robert Blair and William Wordsworth used the Barn Owl as their favourite "bird of doom." During that same period many people believed that the screech or call of an Owl flying past the window of a sick person meant imminent death.
The Barn Owl has also been used to predict the weather by people in England. A screeching Owl meant cold weather or a storm was coming. If heard during foul weather a change in the weather was at hand.
The Custom of nailing an Owl to a barn door to ward off evil and lightning persisted into the 19th century.
Another traditional English belief was that if you walked around an Owl in a tree, it would turn and turn its head to watch you until it wrung its own neck.}
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{Owls in American Indian Culture
Among the different American Indian tribes, there are many diverse beliefs regarding the Owl. Presented here are some of those beliefs....
The Dakota Hidatsa Indians saw the Burrowing Owl as a protective spirit for brave warriors.
The Kwakiutl Indians were convinced that Owls were the souls of people and should therefore not be harmed, for when an Owl was killed the person to whom the soul belonged would also die.
The Kwakiutl Indians were convinced that Owls were the souls of people and should therefore not be harmed, for when an Owl was killed the person to whom the soul belonged would also die.}
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finally, prophetic words that crystallize humanity's situation... a kernel of truth.
{According to Navajo legend, the creator, Nayenezgani, told the Owl after creating it "...in days to come, men will listen to your voice to know what will be their future"}
...peace...