Groups challenge federal plan for Mark Twain National Forest

ST. LOUIS -- Several environmental groups, following on the heels of a forest products group, have appealed the federal government's plan to manage the 1.5-million-acre Mark Twain National Forest.

The Missouri Forest Alliance, Heartwood and the Sierra Club are among half a dozen groups that claim the forest plan, a management road map for the next 10 to 15 years, doesn't provide sufficient environmental protection for the forest that covers much of southern Missouri.

The groups' formal administrative appeal, filed Monday, seeks to resolve their concerns in meetings. Failing that, they could file a federal lawsuit.

In their appeal, the groups said the Forest Service did not designate some land for special protection as "roadless areas," and illegally removed four areas that were protected under that designation in the 1986 forest plan.

The appeal says the Forest Service plan ignored citizen urgings to end lead mining in the forest, failed to address illegal off-road vehicle use, and emphasizes subsidized commercial logging above all other uses.

"The removal of environmental safeguards on the forest is alarming," Jim Bensman of Heartwood said in a statement. "Even provisions that offer protections from mining to waters like the Eleven Point National Wild and Scenic River are gone. The only thing the new plan provides protection for is timber sales, mining and off-road vehicles."

U.S. Forest Service policy forbids the agency from commenting on the appeal or its merits, spokeswoman Charlotte Wiggins said Wednesday.

Randy Moore, a regional supervisor with the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the forest that sprawls across parts of 29 counties throughout southern Missouri, has said the revised plan seeks to strike a balance between economic interests and environmental protection.

Wiggins said a separate environmental analysis of a proposal to temporarily expand off-road access in designated areas of the forest still is being studied. Ronnie Raum, the forest's Rolla-based supervisor, has said it would be released early this year.

Last week, the Missouri Forest Products Association filed its own administrative appeal of the forest plan.

Executive director Brian Brookshire said Wednesday the association adamantly opposes Forest Service plans to log and burn hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land. He said the Forest Service wants to convert existing stands of large oak, hickory and short-leaf pine to a sparsely stocked pine and oak savannah.

"That was the forest condition hundreds of years ago," he said. "It would be a more open, park-like condition."

He said the plan would generate an initial harvest of wood products for market, but his group prefers managing the forest to produce a steady flow of products over time.

He said eventually, the Mark Twain would no longer be available for commercial forestry.

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On the Net:

Mark Twain National Forest: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/marktwain/

Environmental groups' appeal: http://www.heartwood.org

Missouri Forest Products Association: http://www.moforest.org/