November 15, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Brent Plater,
Attorney, CBD (248) 210-5410 or (415) 572-6989
Doug Cornett, NWR (906) 225-1938
Ray Fenner, SWAN (320) 245-6800
More Information: Center's
Michigan Wild and Scenic Rivers Campaign, Center's
Rivers and Watersheds Program
Lawsuit Filed
to Protect Michigan's Neglected Wild and Scenic Rivers
Ten Years Later, Six Rivers Still Waiting for Federally Mandated Action
Nearly ten years after
Representative Dale Kildee and other Michigan legislators successfully
achieved federal recognition and protection for dozens of Michigan's outstanding
rivers, conservationists from around the Great Lakes filed a lawsuit in
federal court alleging that hundreds of miles of those rivers in the Ottawa
National Forest (U.P.) have been purposefully neglected by the United
States Forest Service in flagrant violation of federal law.
The lawsuit, filed
today by the Center for Biological Diversity ("CBD"), Northwoods
Wilderness Recovery ("NWR"), and the Superior Wilderness Action
Network ("SWAN"), involves The Black, Ontonagon, Paint, Presque
Isle, Sturgeon, and Yellow Dog Rivers. These rivers are all federally
designated Wild and Scenic Rivers in the Ottawa National Forest. The rivers
received federal designation for their outstanding and remarkable recreational,
ecological, and wildlife values, but instead of creating comprehensive
management plans to protect and enhance these values as required by law,
the Forest Service has managed these areas to maximize the monetary value
of timber. Hundreds of acres have been cut since the rivers were designated,
while not a single comprehensive management plan has been drafted.
"The Wild &
Scenic Rivers of the Ottawa are national treasures facing death from a
thousand clearcuts," said Brent Plater, attorney with the Center
for Biological Diversity. "The Ottawa has been running roughshod
over the management guidance provided by the people of this state and
country, and its time we all stood up and told the Forest Service that
the Wild and Scenic Rivers in Michigan must receive the level of care
they are entitled to by law."
The nearly one million acre Ottawa National Forest is located in Michigan's
western Upper Peninsula, and contains some of the best wildlife habitat
in the state. Over 500,000 acres of second-growth hardwood forests are
found within the Ottawa, which are just beginning to mature and re-gain
characteristics of old-growth forest after being devastated by the logging
era that ended in the 1930's. Since the inception of the Ottawa's management
plan in 1986, hardwood forests have been over-cut by at least 60%. Timbering
and road building in and near the Wild and Scenic Rivers have major impacts
on imperiled species such as Canada lynx, American bittern, American bald
eagle, Northern goshawk, red-shouldered hawk, and Eastern timber wolf.
The Ottawa's violation
of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act won't surprise those who monitor forests
across the country. A recent report from the Native Forest Protection
Alliance ranked the Ottawa the 8th most endangered national forest in
the country due to excessive logging, road building, and ATV (All-terrain
vehicle) use. "The scofflaw management of the Forest Service has
left a landscape where wholesale logging, road building, and ATV proliferation
reigns supreme," said Doug Cornett, Executive Director of NWR. "These
activities are inconsistent with protecting our Wild and Scenic Rivers,
and this lawsuit will bring about a sea-change in on-the-ground management
in the river corridors and adjacent lands."
The six designated
rivers comprise over 300 miles of riparian habitat within the Ottawa National
Forest. Congress designated 63.4 miles as "wild," 82.5 miles
as "scenic," and 162.5 miles as "recreational." For
each designated river, the Forest Service was charged with establishing
detailed boundaries that include surrounding areas exhibiting outstandingly
remarkable values; creating and implementing comprehensive management
plans that will protect and enhance those values; and insuring that management
directives on bordering and adjacent areas are consistent with protecting
and enhancing the river corridor. These mandates all must go through a
public hearing and review process. To date, the Forest Service has failed
to take any of these steps, instead relying on cursory "standards
& guidelines" to manage these areas, in violation of the Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act.
"This pattern
of neglect on the Ottawa can be seen on many public lands throughout the
Midwest," said Ray Fenner, Executive Director of SWAN. "What
is exciting about the Ottawa is we have the laws in place to turn the
forest around from one of the 10 most imperiled in the country to a forest
where the integrity of the outstanding and remarkable resources in the
Upper Peninsula are preserved in perpetuity. If we can get the Forest
Service to comply with the law, we'll be well on our way toward achieving
that goal."
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