Did the Forest Service go too far?
Work in the Nelder Grove is subject of unresolved lawsuit
Volume 2, Number 52 - Thursday, June 6, 2024
Published every Monday and Thursday
Perspective
THE GOVERNMENT calls it stewardship. Some environmental groups call it arbitrary, capricious and illegal.
On May 24, District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston in Fresno said in a minute order that it is likely to be six months or more before recent motions in the matter will be resolved. Citing an ongoing “judicial resource emergency” in the Eastern District of California, the judge said she’s facing a backlog of about 100 regular civil motions and made suggestions as to how the parties might speed things up. (Trying to explain options is beyond the scope of today’s newsletter, and I have to admit I barely understand what the judge meant except, I suppose, “don’t hold your breath” for a decision on this matter.
As I reported last summer (HERE), work by the Forest Service in Sierra National Forest’s 1540-acre Nelder Grove is the focus of a lawsuit filed July 13, 2023, by Earth Island Institute, Sequoia ForestKeeper and the Sierra Club against the United States Forest Service and some of its officials (in their official capacity).
A review of the docket shows lots of back-and-forth filings since then with the government answering the first complaint on Oct. 16, 2023. The plaintiffs filed a first amended complaint on Nov. 6, 2023, and a second amended complaint on April 23. The government filed answers to those complaints on Dec. 4, 2023, and May 3, respectively.
On May 21, the plaintiffs (Earth Island, et al.) filed a motion for summary judgment and several declarations in support of that motion, including one from Chad Hanson. As I reported HERE, the Sierra Club called him a “forest superhero” at a banquet in Bakersfield on April 27.
I’ve read the initial complaint and answer and skimmed through the others, but can’t tell you exactly what changed as the paperwork battle continued, and I doubt that you would keep reading if I tried. (I do plan to keep reading.)
For now, here’s my best effort at a simplified explanation:
On July 22, 2022, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore approved what is known as the Giant Sequoia emergency response. I’ve reported on this many times before, so will try not to repeat too much, but in a nutshell, work to reduce fuels in some giant sequoia groves — including the Nelder Grove — was authorized because the agency believed (and apparently still believes) that the work was necessary to protect giant sequoia groves.
The plaintiffs cite provisions of law, including the National Environmental Policy Act and National Forest Management Act, and claim that the Forest Service violated some provisions of those laws.
The government says it did not violate the laws. In some cases, the government states that some of the provisions of the law do not apply.
The plaintiffs state that some of the work is or has actually killed some young giant sequoia trees. The government agrees that this can be the case but cites its belief that there is a greater risk to giant sequoias from potential wildfires.
There is more, but I’m running out of time, and you may be running out of interest.
What might a judge eventually decide if the parties don’t choose some other path to resolution? I have no idea.
What I do know, because I saw them, is that those burn piles in the portion of the Nelder Grove I visited last week (read more HERE) are massive.
There is more to learn and more to report.
Stay tuned!
Wildfire, water & weather update
As predicted, temperatures have been rising in California. The best Sierra Nevada weather forecasts are at NWS Hanford, HERE, and NWS Sacramento, HERE.
I like this map from NWS in Hanford because it shows the relationship of San Joaquin Valley communities under an excessive heat warning to the mountain areas where most giant sequoias grow. NWS Sacramento had a similar map for the northern part of the valley but without as much mountain area detail.
This morning CalFire’s incident tracker shows 1,507 wildfires this season with 34,394 acres burned and 10 structures damaged or destroyed. The largest wildfire was the Corral Fire near Tracy last week. Check out the incident tracker HERE.
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Editot’s Note: I had a terrible typo in the headline of email version of the newsletter, “to far” instead of “too far,” reminding me that everyone needs an editor. My apologies!
Sorry, readers, for not noticing the typo in headline before sending this morning. Of course it should be "too far," not "to far."