"Judge Tosses Bush-Era Forest Management Regulations"

"A federal judge sided with environmentalists yesterday and threw out Bush-era Forest Service regulations that govern management plans for national forests.

Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the service failed to analyze the effects from removing requirements guaranteeing viable wildlife populations. The planning rule determines how 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands develop individual forest plans, governing activities from timber harvests to recreation and protecting endangered plants and animals.

Wilken's decision marks the third time a court has rejected revisions of the regulations over the past decade.

'We hope it's the last gasp of the Forest Service under the Bush administration and that we can now move forward with the Obama administration and try to come up with rules that will actually protect the forests,' said Marc Fink, attorney for Center for Biological Diversity and one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case.'"

Noelle Straub reports for Greenwire in the New York Times July 1, 2009.