California — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 12 declined to halt a logging and vegetation clearing project atop Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak in Ventura County’s Los Padres National Forest. Various environmental groups, plus Ventura County, Ojai and Patagonia Works, have sued the U.S. Forest Service to halt the project on grounds that it would violate environmental laws, harm vulnerable wildlife, and do irreparable damage to intact roadless areas of the forest. “We had hoped the court would rule in favor of the planet, biodiversity and the community,” said Hans Cole, head of Environmental Activism at outdoor apparel maker Patagonia. …The ruling comes four years after the Trump Administration first proposed the project, leading to significant opposition from conservation organizations, Indigenous groups, scientists, businesses and local governments, according to Los Padres ForestWatch, one of the plaintiffs. The project’s opponents are considering their next steps, including whether to seek a rehearing.

As part of a strategy to reduce wildland fire fuels on a densely timbered tract of land surrounding Tally Lake, about 13 miles west of Whitefish on the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the Flathead National Forest issued a draft decision approving a project to thin trees and conduct other treatments on more than 40,000 acres of mostly public land. Dubbed the Cyclone Bill Project, foresters say the aim is to reduce tree densities and fuel loading on the WUI, buffering residential communities from hazardous, fire-prone sections of the forest. The project would also improve diversity and resilience of the trees and “contribute to continued timber production and economic sustainability,” according to a U.S. Forest Service proposal. On Wednesday, Flathead National Forest officials released the draft decision notice for the Cyclone Bill Project, initiating an administrative review process and setting the stage for the public to submit objections for the next 45 calendar days.

The U.S. Forest Service is starting a public comment period today about proposed changes to its forest management plan for Northern California, Oregon and Washington. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service is taking public input about a proposed amendment to land management plans for national forests in the Northwest Forest Plan area. The draft Environmental Impact Statement for the amendment gets published today in the Federal Register, launching an 120-day comment period to allow the public to offer input about how these forests will be managed. …USFS says the draft EIS focuses on balancing economic needs, ecological health, and community safety across the Northwest Forest Plan area. …The Forest Service will review and incorporate feedback to develop a final environmental impact statement, anticipated in 2025.  Comments can be submitted here.

WASHINGTON — Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy called on superintendents from Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier, and North Cascades national parks to resist a plan by a sister agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), to participate in a scheme to kill almost half a million barred owls in the Pacific Northwest over the next 30 years. The USFWS filed a Record of Decision on barred owl management in late August, and last week, AWA and the Center filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle to block the overreaching and unworkable plan targeting a species protected for a century by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. …Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action said, “It has a zero percent chance of success, but it will produce an unheard-of body count of a long-protected owl species.”