(CN) — Conservationists filed three lawsuits in federal court Wednesday to stop a proposed logging project on Pine Mountain in Ventura County, roughly 30 miles north of Ojai in Southern California.
The U.S. Forest Service wants to "thin" 755 acres of land, mostly within Los Padres National Forest, to reduce wildfire risk. But seven environmental groups, the city of Ojai and Ventura County say the agency violated federal law — namely the National Environmental Policy Act — by using an expedited environmental review process.
The project, said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch, would "significantly transform the Pine Mountain area" by allowing "an unlimited number of trees to be cut."
A spokesman for the Forest Service declined to comment.
The Forest Service decision, made in May 2020 during Donald Trump's last full year as president, aims to "to improve forest health by reducing mortality risk, provide safe and effective locations from which to perform fire suppression operations, to slow the spread of a wildland fire," according to the agency's decision memo. Dense forests, it argues, are susceptible to both fire and disease.
Adding to the controversy, the decision allows for the possibility of commercial logging.
"The sale of timber and other wood by-product is not part of the purpose and need for the project and would not change the treatment outcome," the memo reads. "Rather, it’s another tool available for utilization within a portion of the project to help move the area toward forest health desired conditions."
The plaintiffs cried foul.
“This commercial logging project will hack a brutal scar through one of Los Padres National Forest’s most beautiful roadless areas,” said Justin Augustine, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a written statement. “The Forest Service wants to let chainsaws chew up old-growth conifers and crucial habitat for wildlife. It’s immoral, it’s illegal, and we hope to stop it in court.”
It's hard to tell just how many trees would be removed from Pine Mountain. The memo states that trees between one inch and two feet in diameter will be "thinned." Thicker trees up to five feet in diameter will be preserved "unless removal is needed for safety reasons" or if the trees are impacted by dwarf mistletoe.
Kyuper says the majority of trees on Pine Mountain are pines and firs, and most are less than two feet in diameter.
"Because the Forest Service’s decision is relatively vague, we have no idea how many would be cut down," said Kuyper. "It’s a poorly defined project, it gives the Forest Service too much discretion, and would result in removal of thousands of tress, including some that are hundreds of years old."
The project also calls for the "mechanical mastication of smaller trees and shrubs."
Many of those shrubs are old-growth chaparral "native to the area and is important for wildlife," according to the environmentalists' lawsuit. "Mastication means a tractor-like machine is used to chop the chaparral into small chips."
The lawsuit continues: "Pine Mountain hosts the greatest diversity of coniferous tree species in Ventura County, which occur next to large expanses of rare old-growth chaparral."
A much better strategy to reduce wildfire risk is to "harden" the homes in the area, making sure they don't emit embers and keeping the space surrounding the homes clear of trees, leaves and pine needles, the conservationists say.
Their suit also objects to the project on the grounds that it is "located entirely within ancestral lands of the Chumash people."
"Tribal members also visit Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak for prayer and ceremony, and the project would permanently alter the landscape where they pray," the suit reads.
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