Opinion ID: 742736
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ecological Restoration (Count IX)

Text: 161 The plaintiffs' final challenge relates to the ecological restoration program adopted in the ALRMP. The program is designed to restore the natural hardwood ecosystems that once existed in the region now encompassed by the Shawnee National Forest by eliminating some of the existing pine plantations in parts of the forest and replacing them with hardwoods. 18 In other areas, the existing pine plantations will be allowed to naturally regenerate to a hardwood/pine mix. The plaintiffs contend that the program is nothing but a change in labels that will allow the Forest Service to continue its commerical logging efforts while avoiding criticism of below-cost sales. As plaintiffs state in their brief: 162 By simply relabeling the pine and pin oak logging as ecological restoration and habitat improvement, the Forest Service is able to claim that it has substantially reduced the total acreage available for timber production and annual timber production, that it has replaced even-aged management as the predominant logging method, and that it has addressed the issue of below-cost timber sales.... However, thousands of acres of pine and pin oak will still be logged each year, that logging will use even-aged management techniques, and the Forest Service will still lose millions of dollars on these timber sales. 163 (Pls.' Mem. (Doc. 20) at 40-41.) The plaintiffs contend that this exercise in form over substance fails to comply with the Forest Service's obligations under NEPA to fully inform the public about the agency's decision and its obligations under the APA to give valid, supportable reasons for its decisions. 164 This argument was already considered, and rejected, in Glisson v. United States Forest Serv., No. 92-CV-4205-JLF (S.D.Ill. Aug. 24, 1993), where plaintiff Glisson contended that the ecological restoration program was merely a subterfuge to allow continued pine harvest and to circumvent the public's objections to below-cost sales. Here, as in Glisson, the Court finds nothing misleading in the FSEIS or the record of decision. Both documents make it clear that the Forest Service will be harvesting as much as 5.4 million board feet of pine each year as part of a program to restore the native hardwood forest. (ROD for ALRMP at 6; FSEIS at 2-28.) It is equally clear from the FSEIS that the costs of removing the pine plantations will exceed any revenues from the sale of that pine. (FSEIS at 2-59, 3-82 (Table 3-15); Pls.' Ex. 29.) Therefore, it should be obvious to the average reader that the ecological restoration program is going to cost money rather than make money. 165 This does not constitute the usual below-cost sales problem, however, because the pine is not being cut for commercial timber purposes but, rather, is being harvested as a means of forest management. In other words, the Forest Service is not simply cutting and selling the pine for the sake of cutting and selling pine; instead, the pine harvest is intended to benefit the forest itself by restoring its natural ecosystems. As a result, the pine harvest will be paid for as part of the Shawnee's ecology program rather than as a cost of timber production. (FSEIS at 2-59.) Although the plaintiffs may disagree with the goals of the ecological restoration program, the Forest Service was well within its discretion to adopt such a program as part of the management plan for the Shawnee and it has not violated either NEPA or the APA by reordering its priorities in this manner. 166 The plaintiffs also argue that the ecological restoration program fails to comply with section 219.27(g) of the forest regulations, which provides that a planned type conversion--i.e., a change in the diversity of plant and animal communities and tree species--shall be justified by an analysis showing biological, economic, social, and environmental design consequences, and the relation of such conversions to the process of natural change. 36 C.F.R. § 219.27(g) (1992). This argument also was rejected in the Glisson decision, which held that the environmental analysis in the FSEIS addressed all of the elements required under section 219.27(g) and, based upon that analysis, the Forest Service determined that the ecological restoration program would provide a long-term benefit to the forest. That same analysis is applicable here. The record of decision and FSEIS make it clear that the regional forester was well aware of the costs of removing the non-native pines from the forest. He ultimately decided in favor of the program because [i]n some areas of the Forest, there is a critical need to remove pines. Failure to eliminate pine plantations that are adjacent to natural areas, where pine seedlings are invading into the natural plant communities, would significantly harm diversity of the Forest. (ROD for ALRMP at 17.) Thus, it is clear that the regional forester concluded that the benefits of the ecological restoration program outweighed its costs. 19 167 The Court, therefore, finds that the Forest Service has sufficiently justified the type conversion from pine plantations to hardwoods. Accordingly, the Court rejects the plaintiffs' claims alleged in Count IX of their complaint.