FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2005

At Three Year Anniversary of Bitterroot Settlement Information Obtained via
Freedom of Information Act Reveals Little Progress Made on Restoration Work in 2004

FOIA also shows over $16 million in Bitterroot restoration funds still missing

Meanwhile, Forest Service planning to log thousands of acres of old-growth forests
in Bitterroot as part of Montana’s first Healthy Forest Restoration Act project

Larry Campbell, Friends of the Bitterroot: (406) 821-3110
John Groves, retired Forest Service district ranger: (406) 777-2423
Matthew Koehler, Native Forest Network: (406) 542-7343

MISSOULA, MONTANA – Information obtained this week from the Forest Service via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) clearly reveals that little progress has been made during the past twelve months on restoration work that is a part of the Bitterroot National Forest's Burned Area Recovery Plan. The FOIA also revealed that over $16 million in Bitterroot restoration funds is still missing, meaning completion of the restoration work in the future is doubtful.

On February 7, 2002 the U.S. Forest Service, timber industry and seven conservation groups signed a Settlement regarding the Bitterroot National Forest’s Burned Area Recovery (BAR) plan. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey attended the Settlement negotiations as required by a federal district court judge.

According to information obtained this week from the Forest Service via the Freedom of Information Act, during the past twelve months:

• No road storage work took place keeping the total work completed at only 20%.

• No fish passage culvert replacement work took place keeping the total work completed at only 28%.

• Only one-mile of road obliteration work took place bringing the total from 29% to 32% completed.

• Reforestation work went from 24% to only 31% completed.

• BMP road upgrades went from only 14% completed to only 19% completed.

• Another 2,682 acres were logged, bringing the total to 11,742 acres logged (80% of total acres)

• On the positive side, fish habitat improvements (ie riparian planting) went from 56% to 100% completed.

• RESTORATION MONEY: Approximately $16.6 million in restoration funds that was set aside for the Bitterroot BAR project is still missing. Of $25.5 million on hand for BAR restoration work in 2002 and taken away to pay for costs of the 2002 wildfire season, only $8.9 million has been returned.

While the critical restoration work lags far behind schedule and may never be completed due to the $16 million funding shortage, 11,742 acres (over 18 square miles) of the Bitterroot National Forest have been logged as part of the "recovery" plan.

Conservation groups point out that the vast majority of the logging – done under the guise of "restoration" and "fuel-reduction" – has occurred far from the nearest community and that logging companies have systematically cut down the largest, most fire-resistant trees.

The Bitterroot National Forest also happens to be the site of the first proposed Healthy Forest Restoration Project in Montana called the Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction project along the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. The proposed Middle East Fork project would mix a small amount of bona-fide community protection work with logging over nine square miles of forest (6,000 acres in total), including clearcut "regeneration" logging in previously unlogged, old-growth forests.

"The ongoing failure to keep restoration promises made in the court sanctioned BAR Settlement while spending available time and money planning to cut down old-growth forests as part of the Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction project clearly shows Bitterroot Forest Supervisor Bull's priority of logging over restoration and sadly demonstrates his persistent lack of commitment to promises made. Where is accountability?" asked Bitterroot Valley resident Larry Campbell with Friends of the Bitterroot.

"There is an on going failure by Bitterroot Forest Supervisor Dave Bull, Regional Forester Gail Kimbell and Chief Dale Bosworth to honor and fulfill the provisions in the Bitterroot burned area restoration agreement. The excuse has been given that funding for restoration was withdrawn for fighting forest fires in other areas. Yet today, tens of thousands of dollars are being spent preparing a massive timber sale on the East Fork drainage of the Bitterroot, an area already severely damaged by excessive roading and past timber sales," explained retired US Forest Service district ranger and professional forester John Grove, a member of Friends of the Bitterroot.

"The Forest Service’s on-going failure with BAR plan restoration coupled with the fact that they are planning to cut down remarkable old-growth forests with trees up to 4 feet in diameter as part of Montana’s first Healthy Forest Restoration Act project makes it incredibly difficult for us to find common-ground and build trust with the agency," explained the Native Forest Network’s Matthew Koehler who has done extensive field monitoring on the Bitterroot National Forest.

"If Regional Forester Gail Kimbell was serious when she stated upon becoming regional forester that ‘My priorities start and stop with what I can do to facilitate the restoration of healthy forests.’ (Missoulian, March 16, 2004) then she needs to clearly understand that every broken restoration promise and big logging project moves us further away from solutions that will put people to work restoration our forests," said Koehler.

SPECIFIC BREAKDOWN OF RESTORATION ACTIVITIES AS OF JANUARY 27, 2005
(Based on USFS response to Native Forest Network's January 4, 2005 Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] request):

• Road obliteration has been completed on 14.2 miles of 45 miles (32%). Road obliteration means the road surface is restored to natural contours near drainage ways and culverts and other impediments to drainage are permanently removed, resulting in more natural patterns of runoff and sediment. Most roads slated for obliteration are of little use to management and are falling apart due to deferred maintenance. And any delay results in continued erosion and pollution of waters.

• Road storage has been completed on 20.79 miles of 102 miles (20%). Road storage means drainage is altered to more natural patterns, but crossing structures are not fully removed, and the road can be easily rebuilt for future use. This does not reduce erosion and other impacts as much as road obliteration, but the same issue holds - deferring the work means continuing high levels of impact from problem roads.

• Best Management Practices (BMPs) upgrades have been completed on 95 of 500 miles (19%). The USFS also says 154.95 have been "partially completed," but provided no specifics as to what "partially completed" means. BMP upgrades are modifications of an existing road's surface and drainage that improve its ability to handle traffic without large increases in sediment delivered to streams. Deferring this work means these roads continue to generate polluted runoff and are highly vulnerable to damage from log hauling and other traffic.

• Fish passage culvert replacement has been completed on 9 of 32 culverts (28%).

• Stream Restoration and fish habitat improvements (ie riparian planting): 16 miles of 16 miles completed (100%).

• Reforestation: 10,411 acres of 33,150 acres completed (31%).

• Logging: 11,742 acres logged of 14,700 acres total (80% of total acres).

• Restoration Funds: $16.6 million in restoration funds for the Bitterroot BAR project is still missing. According to the Forest Service, $8.9 million has been returned from the $25.5 million in Bitterroot BAR restoration funds taken from the forest to pay for costs associated with the 2002 wildfire season.

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
The Forest Service touted restoration as the top priority of their Bitterroot "recovery" plan from the very beginning. Conservation groups repeatedly claimed that the Forest Service was using restoration rhetoric as a smokescreen to push through a massive commercial logging project.
Three years into the Bitterroot National Forest's "recovery" project and the on-the-ground realities of the project stand in stark contrast to statements from Forest Service officials.

Remember, these officials repeatedly stated that the public appeals process for the Bitterroot plan was circumvented so the Forest Service could move forward with critical restoration work.

• "The ultimate goal of this for us, the professionals who deal with land management issues everyday, is to get out on the ground and do the restoration work that so badly needs to be done." – Ellen Davis, Forest Service spokeswoman defending the Forest Service's decision to circumvent the public appeals process on the Bitterroot by having Mark Rey sign the Record of Decision (Ravalli Republic, Nov. 28, 2001)

• "It's imperative that we move forward with the project to help restore the land and prevent further environmental degradation." – Dale Bosworth, Chief, U.S. Forest Service explaining why the Forest Service needed to circumvent the public appeals process on the Bitterroot (New York Times, December 9, 2001)

• "The most important thing to me is getting on with the restoration work. There's lots of other work we wanted to do - roads we wanted to obliterate, watershed work, reforestation. The idea of the whole project was fire restoration" – Dale Bosworth, Chief, U.S. Forest Service defending the need to circumvent the public appeals process on the Bitterroot two days following a court-order preliminary injunction (Missoulian, January 9, 2002)

• "We are not behind in our restoration work. We might even be a little ahead." – Dave Bull, Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor responding to a National Forest Protection Alliance and Greenpeace report, which identified the Bitterroot National Forest as an "Endangered Forest" (Missoulian, June 6, 2003)

• "My priorities start and stop with what I can do to facilitate the restoration of healthy forests. That's the priority." – Gail Kimbell, Regional Forester, U.S. Forest Service Northern Region (Missoulian, March 16, 2004)