By Etta Pettijohn
People who depend on cutting firewood in the Gila National Forest for extra income, or for their livelihood, will not be able to do so in the near future, after a federal judge suspended all timber cutting in all of New Mexico’s national forests last week in response to a lawsuit by an environmental agency that routinely sues to stop any logging or thinning on federal lands.
U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins halted tree-cutting activities in all of New Mexico’s national forests and one in Arizona—essentially stalling for an undetermined time the thinning activities taking place to prevent massive forest fires like the Silver Fire, which burned almost 140,000 acres in the Gila in 2013, causing evacuation of Kingston and Hillsboro and later enhancing the severity of flooding that occurred the same year.
When asked if the injunction would include firewood cutting, Marta Call, public affairs officer for the Gila, said, “All timber management activities (referring to the order), so we have suspended issuance and implementation of fuelwood cutting permits.”
Collins wrote in the order the U.S. Forest Service (FS) failed their responsibility to count the Mexican spotted owl as part of a recovery plan and no longer can use budget concerns as an excuse.
Santa Fe, New Mexico-based WildEarth Guardians alleged in a 2013 lawsuit that FS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) managers failed to consider the impacts on the owls from widespread thinning and logging, and had not done their jobs in tracking the bird’s numbers.
The Mexican spotted owl, one of the largest owl species in North America, was placed on the Endangered Species list in 1993 in the U.S. and Mexico.
Managers in the Gila and other national forests in the state are working in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy and other partners using logging, mechanical thinning and prescribed burns to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, which also threaten the owl and its habitat.
A 2012 Fish and Wildlife recovery plan estimated there were more than 1,300 nesting sites and said the total has increased over the years. Collins said that doesn’t indicate the owl population has grown.
“Whether or not the population is stable or drastically declining or increasing in one place and declining in another is totally speculative at this point,” said John Horning, executive director of WildEarth Guardians.
“While we believe that the five National Forests are not within the scope of the Order, the Department of Justice has requested clarification from the Court to confirm our understanding,” said Call. “We understand the hardship that any cessation of timber management actions may cause on our local community members who rely on Forest products. Our leadership is consulting and working to meet our obligations as quickly as possible. Our thanks to the public and our partners for your understanding and patience.
“The USDA Forest Service Southwestern Region is complying with the court’s order. We realize the burden this places on the forests, the communities we serve and local publics affected by these findings. Active timber management activities are shutting down in a timely and orderly fashion on the Tonto, Lincoln, Santa Fe, Gila, Cibola, and Carson National Forests. This includes all cutting of vegetation, such as: Timber sale contracts, stewardship contracts and agreements, service contracts and, partnership agreements such as New Mexico State Forestry challenge cost-share agreements.“
The injunction specifies the FS and FWS must consult formally about what projects affect the owls and their habitat, which the FWS’s website said that could take up to three months. After that it would have 45 days to issue a new biological opinion.