azcentral.com

10/21/05

The U.S. Forest Service went overboard when it suspended mushroom picking, the cutting of Christmas trees and other activities to comply with a court order declaring it had to give the public a greater say in forest management decisions, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Clarifying an earlier ruling, U.S. District Judge James Singleton Jr., wrote that the Forest Service needs to take public comments and consider appeals on major projects, such as timber sales and new off-highway vehicle trails, not on minor things such as permits for hunting guides or gathering mushrooms.

… Environmental groups accused the Bush administration and the Forest Service of intentionally trying to create a train wreck to build support for legislation to further limit public participation in logging on national forests...

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1021forests21.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp