Lawsuit seeks to stop two commercial logging projects in WMNF

A map of the Peabody West Integrated Resource Project which is one of two commercial logging projects an environmental group has filed suit in U.S. District Court to stop. (Courtesy Photo)

An environmental group has filed suit in U.S. District Court to stop two commercial logging projects on the White Mountain National Forest, including the Peabody West Integrated Resource Project in Gorham.

The Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic filed suit last Thursday on behalf of Standing Trees, a Vermont-based group that advocates to protect and restore forests on public lands.

The suit challenges the U.S. Forest Service’s finding that the Peabody West and the Tarleton Integrated Resources Projects will have no significant impact. The finding approves nearly 3,000 acres of commercial logging between the two projects.

For the Peabody West project, the decision came after a four-year process that began in December 2019 and ended with a final decision issued on Feb. 7, 2024.

The project calls for commercially logging approximately 2,200 acres that the Forest Service said is needed to provide a sustainable yield of high qualify timber products and improve wildlife diversity. The Peabody West project would reconstruct about nine miles of existing system and non-system roads and expand a permanent wildlife opening to 19 acres.

The environmental assessment describes the Peabody property as primarily a mature forest and a goal of the project is to increase the age diversity and habitat mix. It is estimated the harvest, which would take place over several years, will generate 13 million board feet of forest products.

The project would also designate about 300 acres as a backcountry ski zone with up to five skiable downhill routes, improve the access to Third Hole swimming area on the Peabody River off Route 16,and designate six miles of mountain biking trail including about four miles of new trail. Vegetation near the Androscoggin Ranger District office on Route 16 would be thinned to improve visibility and line of sight.

“The project will advance Forest Plan goals and objectives by providing high quality timber products, diversifying wildlife habitat, and addressing other recreation and transportation management needs,” concluded the decision.

In its lawsuit, Standing Trees argues that the Peabody West project targets a mature and roadless forest in the iconic Presidential Range, home of Great Gulf Roadless Area. The group said the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Review Act by failing to substantiate the need for commercial logging and failing to consider alternatives to meet that need. Standing Trees said the review did not look at the cumulative impacts of all logging projects on the WMNF including impacts on old growth forest and endangered species.

The group also said the environmental assessment failed to protect the water quality of the Peabody River, which it noted is a tributary of the Androscoggin River and eligible to be classified as a wild and scenic river.

The Tarleton project, within the towns of Warren and Piermont, calls for commercially logging 880 acres.

The lawsuit asks the court to vacate the decision for both projects and enjoin the authorized logging and road construction.

“The Forest Service has displayed zero interest in collaborating with the public to improve either one of these reckless logging projects. The Forest Service has had ample opportunity to involve and learn from local communities, respond to new presidential direction and adapt its plans to changing conditions. The public deserves better and we have no choice but to take the agency to court,” said Zack Porter, executive director of Standing Trees.

Androscoggin District Ranger Josh Sjostrom said because the matter is now in litigation, the U.S Forest Service is unable to comment on the lawsuit or answer questions about the projects.

The lawsuit adds to local concerns about the management of large forest tracts in the North Country.

“In the case of Standing Trees Inc., the plaintiff in this case, they clearly are against logging and propose a radicalized forest management strategy that prioritizes trees over people,” said Coos County Administrator Mark Brady.

He said the Coos County Commission will review the lawsuit to see if there is any impact to the county’s unincorporated lands.

Brady said the public, as well as the timber and tourism industries, cannot take for granted the access they currently enjoy to large tracts of working forests. Brady referenced Aurora Sustainable Lands’ new management plan for the Connecticut Lakes Headwater Forests, which calls for reducing the harvesting of trees in order to capture carbon credits. Pittsburg officials are worried about the loss of timber tax revenues and public access for recreation. The state, which holds a conservation easement on the tract, has rejected the plan.

“This lawsuit and the recently submitted management plan by Aurora Lands for the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters property represent a fundamentally different way to manage forests which destroys the working relationship between all stakeholders (property owners, timber industry, recreational use) that has evolved over generations and served New Hampshire and its citizens well. Further there are legitimate downside concerns to the health of the forest of this type of forest management and New Hampshire does not want to be like California or Canada with the constant smoke from wildfires creating multiple health hazards. It is simply incompatible with the New Hampshire Way and will have significant negative impacts on our economy and way of life,” Brady said.

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