Groups sue in defense of bull trout [to stop logging]

The groups contend that construction of logging roads and the harvest of 200-year-old trees in the Middle Fork Ranger District would cause erosion that fouls streams to the detriment of bull trout in the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River.

Cascade Resources Advocacy Group, a public interest law firm, filed the suit Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland on behalf of Cascadia Wildlands Project, the Oregon Natural Resources Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and Willamette Riverkeeper.

The bull trout - a freshwater fish that is a char, a member of the salmon family - has disappeared from much of its historic range. In Western Oregon, the fish is found in portions of the Upper McKenzie River and in the Middle Fork, where biologists have been working earnestly for five years to reintroduce the species.

Four U.S. Forest Service timber sales totaling more than 20 million board feet threaten to undermine efforts to reinstate a healthy population of bull trout in the upper Willamette, said James Johnston, executive director of the Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands Project.

"We are trying to get them to design sales that do not harm bull trout," Johnston said. "We worked really hard to resolve this with the Forest Service informally and through the administrative appeals process, and we haven't gotten anywhere with them. So we're bringing a lawsuit and will let the courts decide."

The suit seeks to halt the Happy Bird, Tumbler, Staley and Upper Liz sales in the vicinity of Staley and Tumblebug creeks, both tributaries of the Middle Fork. The area is about 20 miles southeast of Oakridge.

New or rebuilt logging roads for the timber harvests pose the greatest threat, Johnston said. "The Forest Service knows there is a direct correlation between road density and survivability of bull trout populations," he said.

Biologists have confirmed that road construction can jeopardize bull trout habitat by sending sediment into streams. And when logging occurs too close to streams, the loss of shade raises water temperatures. Bull trout thrive in cold, clear water.

Neither state nor federal biologists, however, objected to the four timber sales the groups are challenging on the Middle Fork Ranger District. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife declined to even comment on the environmental assessments the Forest Service prepared for the projects.

"We're not saying this is a plus or a minus on the timber sales," said Jeff Ziller, the state's district fish biologist in Eugene. "We just could not make a good connection between the bull trout and potential bull trout damage at this time."

Logging at the Tumbler sale has nearly been completed by Rosboro Lumber Co. of Springfield; one 15-acre thinning unit remains to be cut. The Forest Service dropped a fifth sale in the same area after the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service decided the project would adversely affect bull trout habitat.

The Fish & Wildlife Service recently issued a biological opinion concluding that the three remaining sales - Staley, Upper Liz and Happy Bird - "are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the bull trout."

Among the reasons cited by the agency were that the logging units are more than five miles from known bull trout habitat and that the elevation is high enough that rain probably wouldn't fall on snow - a phenomenon that contributes to sediment buildup in streams, said Judy Jacobs, a fish and wildlife biologist for the agency.

Also, new spur roads for the Upper Liz and Happy Bird sales will be temporary and must be removed within a year after logging ends.

Well, the Bull Trout... my old nemesis. We meet again.

Friday, March 01, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Survey: Road repairs didn't harm bull trout
Jarbidge's West Fork called suitable habitat for threatened fish although none found there
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ELKO -- The threatened bull trout was not harmed by controversial repair work on the South Canyon Road along the Jarbidge River last fall, an inventory of the fish concludes.

The survey by a U.S. Forest Service contractor last fall said the West Fork of the Jarbidge River appears to be suitable habitat for the bull trout but documented no fish there and found only a dozen in neighboring tributaries, the Elko Daily Free Press reported.

The road and the fish are at the center of a lingering dispute between the federal government and Elko County over jurisdiction of the road, which washed out in a flood in 1995.

Forest Service officials, who maintain rebuilding the road would jeopardize the survival of the fish, and the county both performed work on the road in 1998.

Forest Service officials feared the county's road grading below the level of the stream channel would set the stage for runoff of sent sediment into the stream in the spring.

The survey, however, "failed to demonstrate any appreciable accumulation of fine sediment that would degrade significant amounts of salmonid spawning habitat in the West Fork Jarbidge River."

The survey was conducted by Parametrix Inc. of Kirkland, Wash., under a contract with the Forest Service. It concluded that the tributary was "suitable" bull trout habitat although snorkelers failed to spot any of the fish there. They found one small bull trout upstream in Pine Creek and a dozen in the East Fork.

Surveyors blamed the results on cold water temperatures and the fact snorkelers searched in the daytime instead of the preferred technique of searching at night. As a result, the surveyors said their report "does not represent an accurate measure of habitat use or population size."

Nevertheless, Forest Service officials said they were satisfied with the results.

Jarbidge District Ranger Bill Van Bruggen said the report "was well done and should be very helpful in upcoming analyses for the area."

Four additional studies were conducted along South Canyon Road last fall and the results of those will be available soon.

"The up-to-date information from all five reports will position the Forest Service to respond timely to proposals that are presented to us, allow us to complete high-quality analyses, and assist the agency in making well-informed decisions regarding projects under consideration," Van Bruggen said in a written statement.

One of those projects is the rebuilding of a 1.4-mile section of South Canyon Road.

Despite a settlement agreement reached in the spring of 2001, the repair project remains in limbo as the county and Forest Service argue over interim work on a short segment of road.

Fish in the Jarbidge River have been the topic of more than two dozen studies over the past 40 years.

Although no bull trout were spotted by snorkelers in the West Fork during the survey, conducted from Oct. 9-21, three were found in a later electrofishing survey conducted by the Forest Service and Nevada Division of Wildlife.

This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Mar-01-Fri-2002/news/18207416.html

And what exactly has the Bull Trout said ? Has he signed the class action suit? I'd like to see his claims in writing.

The bull trout - a freshwater fish that is a char, a member of the salmon family - has disappeared from much of its historic range.

So let's just rewrite history. Everybody does it.

"We are trying to get them to design sales that do not harm bull trout,"

As a matter of fact, we're demanding obedience!

"The Forest Service knows there is a direct correlation between road density and survivability of bull trout populations,"

Teach them to look both ways before crossing the street!

and

Seems pretty open and shut...this suit should be thrown out based on the "biological opinion"

It is almost like these watermelon warriors never run out of cash for lawsuits...how many lawyers do this pro-bono for them? I always want to throw my shoe at the TV when Paul Newman comes on pitching for the Nature Conservancy.

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