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Click Here to learn more or to take action! May 3, 2002 For Immediate Release Contacts: Jim Kleissler or Ryan Talbott (814) 223-4996 Forest Service proposes massive logging project in the Allegheny National Forest The Forest Service has released plans to log nearly 6,000 acres within the Spring Creek Watershed in the southeastern part of the Allegheny National Forest. The Spring Creek watershed encompasses 56,093 acres, seventy-one percent of which is on Allegheny National Forest land. The Spring Creek Project proposes 5,884 acres of logging which includes 1,918 acres of clearcutting, 1,994 acres of herbicide spraying, 88.6 miles of new road construction and reconstruction and 10 acres of new surface mining and expansion. "This timber sale furthers the Forest Service agenda of producing black cherry through clearcut practices for private interests," explained Bill Belitskus of Communities for Sustainable Forestry in Kane, PA. "Nearly 2,000 acres within the Spring Creek watershed will be clearcut and sprayed with toxic herbicides. This logging method is the most detrimental to watersheds and wildlife habitat." The conservationists point to the size of this project and the environmental impacts associated with it as a cause for concern. "The Forest Service is proposing to cut nearly as many acres as the East Side Project, which is the largest timber sale on any eastern National Forest," said Susan Curry of the National Forest Protection Alliance. "Furthermore, the Spring Creek watershed contains numerous East Side logging sites, increasing the impacts of this sale. This is precisely the reason that the National Forest Protection Alliance recently named the Allegheny National Forest the most endangered national forest in the country." The ADP believes the Forest Service is abandoning ecological sensibility by planning a project this large within a single watershed. "The Spring Creek watershed is important habitat for many threatened, sensitive and endangered species such as the Indiana bat, bald eagle and mountain brook lamprey," said Ryan Talbott, Forest Watch Coordinator for the ADP. "Our public lands are the only place these species can be adequately protected and this project directly threatens the viability of these species." The deadline for public comments on the Spring Creek Project is May 20, 2002. Send comments to Forest Supervisor Kevin Elliott, Allegheny National Forest, P.O. Box 847, Warren, PA 16365 or by e-mail: r9_allegheny_nf@fs.fed.us. For more information about the Spring Creek Project, contact the Allegheny Defense Project at info@alleghenydefense.org. or visit their website at http://www.alleghenydefense.org. ## |
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