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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 01 January 2020 01 January 2020

By Etta Pettijohn

Two federal agencies last week filed biological opinions on timber management activities’ impact on the endangered Mexican Spotted Owl on the Gila and other national forests in New Mexico and Arizona -- and seek to dissolve an injunction that briefly suspended all wood cutting recently.

In these opinions, the U.S. Department of Justice and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) summarize the current status and range of the owl in these forests, and how fire management, and watershed management programs may affect them.

U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins issued an injunction suspending all timber cutting in all of New Mexico’s national forests last September, in response to a lawsuit filed by WildEarth Guardians, which routinely sues to stop any logging or thinning on federal lands.

The injunction halted, for an undetermined time, firewood harvesting and 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 the evacuation of Kingston and Hillsboro. Shortly afterwards, WildEarth Guardians, the U.S. Forest Service (FS) and FWS filed a joint request to reinstate firewood harvesting.

“The circumstances that originally necessitated injunctive relief” – the moratorium on timber activities – “are no longer present,” reads the opinion.

Regional Forester Cal Joyner released a statement saying the Forest Service had met the court’s mandate as quickly as possible and was committed to recovery efforts for the Mexican spotted owl.

“We’re encouraged and grateful for the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and for the sustained support of our partners and communities across the region, and we are hopeful that these filings will lead to quick relief to the communities affected by the court-ordered injunction,” he said.