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MONTANANS URGE NINTH CIRCUIT TO OKAY FOREST HEALTH PLAN

February 4, 2010 - For Immediate Release
Contact: William Perry Pendley

DENVER, CO. A Montana couple that lives year-round in Montana, near an area the U.S. Forest Service deemed to be at risk for dangerous fires, today urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold an October 2009 ruling by a Montana federal district court authorizing the Forest Service to implement a forest health project to reduce fire risk. Janet and Ronald Hartman, who live north of Wilsall, Montana, believe the Forest Service project and parallel efforts by local entities and individuals are key to preventing catastrophic fires that would destroy forest resources, homes, and buildings and endanger the lives of residents and visitors, as well as firefighters. The Hartmans argue that the plan, which involves the Gallatin National Forest 20 miles northeast of Bozeman, meets all requirements of federal law. After the district court issued its order, environmental groups appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which stayed the ruling.

“We are very disturbed by the questions asked today during oral arguments given that the panel appears to be balancing ‘cover’ for elk with the danger to human life,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), which represents the Hartmans. “We are very troubled with the panel’s desire to know how many will die in a future fire.”

In May 2005, the Forest Service finished the Shields River Watershed Risk Assessment to evaluate the risk of wildfire and insect loss to some 44,000 acres in the Smith Creek/Shields River area of the Gallatin National Forest of Montana. The Forest Service—with comments from adjacent private homeowners and State, county, and local officials and groups—developed the Smith Creek Vegetation Treatment Project to address the dangerous fuel buildups and mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfire. The Project will reduce fuel loads on a maximum of 1,110 acres, in 10 separate units. A local, quasi-governmental group was formed to provide grants to local landowners to conduct fuels reduction projects on private lands.

In July 2008, environmental groups challenged the Forest Service’s plan. Janet and Ronald Hartman intervened in the case. In October 2008, the Montana federal district court ruled for the Forest Service and the Hartmans regarding all claims except the mapping of key habitat components for elk, which was remanded to the Forest Service.

On November 20, 2008, the Forest Service issued a supplemental environmental assessment and a 30-day comment period was opened. On March 6, 2009, the Forest Service issued a Decision Notice/Finding of No Significant Impact approving the Smith Creek Vegetation Project. On June 5, 2009, environmental groups again sued.

Mountain States Legal Foundation, created in 1977, is a nonprofit, public interest law firm dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and the free enterprise system. Its offices are in suburban Denver, Colorado.

Hapner v. Tidwell, No. 09-35896 (9th Cir.)