A coalition of conservation groups has appealed the Bighorn National Forest's final forest plan, saying in part it does not adequately protect roadless areas and wildlife habitat.
The groups filed the appeal just under the wire of the appeal deadline last week. The final plan was distributed in November, and the public had 90 days to appeal. That deadline was Friday.
Liz Howell with the Wyoming Wilderness Association, one of the groups filing the appeal, said editing the 264-page appeal was a big task.
"Our hope is to make the forest plan the best it can possibly be," she said. "We're not trying to obstruct the process. We're trying to work our last public privilege of helping make this the best forest plan it can be."
Howell said the plan doesn't do enough to sustain habitat and allows too much logging. It also doesn't do enough to protect roadless areas, she said.
"This is our last chance," she said. "In 20 years it would open up 85 percent of the roadless habitat outside the wilderness areas."
Ernie Schmidt, president of Wyoming Sawmills Inc. in Sheridan, which extracts timber from the Bighorn, said the plan was an "acceptable compromise." He said if the Forest Service implemented the plan approved in November, it would "allow the Forest Service to manage the resource as a healthy forest."
"It does not surprise me they would appeal," he said Tuesday. "They appeal everything."
The fight for the future of the Bighorn has been ongoing for several years, as the Forest Service developed a forest plan to guide forest management for the next 15 to 20 years.
At the center of the debate has been the amount of logging allowed and the number of acres set aside for wilderness consideration.
The final plan, announced in October and released officially in November, scaled back the number of acres suitable for timber production from 262,000 acres in a former plan to 185,000 acres.
The new plan tags the Rock Creek area for potential wilderness designation. Some conservationists said the agency should set aside more acres for this designation.
The final plan also calls for all-terrain vehicle users to stay on designated routes, but said there may be an additional 80,000 acres available for future play. Snowmobile access does not change significantly, but Rock Creek and the area north of U.S. Highway 16 near Powder River Pass would not be open to snowmobiling. Those areas are rarely used because of difficult terrain.
The appeal was sent to the chief of the U.S. Forest Service. He will rule on whether the appeal has merit, and the Forest Service could be forced to revise its plan.
Groups filing the appeal were the Wyoming Wilderness Association, The Ark Initiative, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Sierra Club, Bighorn Forest Users Network, Center for Native Ecosystems, The Wilderness Society and the Wyoming Outdoor Council.Casper Star Tribune
