SAN FRANCISCO – A Native American tribe and other agencies are seeking to halt a logging project in the Klamath River watershed area until more consultation has been completed.
Karuk Tribe, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath Riverkeeper, Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a complaint on March 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division against William Stelle and the National Marine Fisheries Service, citing violation of the Endangered Species Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that they will suffer damages due to logging in the Klamath River watershed, which will also kill the natural habitat of endangered species the coho salmon, as part of the defendants' proposed Westside Fire Recovery Project. The suit states the Westside Project is a proposed clear-cut logging area that was burned during a wildfire in 2014. The plaintiffs hold the defendants responsible because they allegedly plan to continue the Westside Project despite of the impact it would make to the endangered species being preserved by the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs seek the following: enjoin the Westside Project pending completion of any consultation, legal fees and other expenses and any other relief as the court deems just and proper. They are represented by Tom Wheeler of Environmental Protection Information Center in Arcata; Susan Jane M. Brown of Western Environmental Law Center in Portland, Oregon; and Peter M.K. Frost of Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, Oregon.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division Case number 4:16-cv-01079-DMR