Another Attempt To Stop Logging

Conservationists are suing the Forest Service in a bid to block logging west of Lake Tahoe they say will increase

wildfire risks in the Sierra rather than reduce them.

The salvage logging operation planned across 1,700 acres of the Eldorado National Forest is intended to remove standing dead timber, restore burned soils and reduce wood fuels.

The area is part of a 17,000-acre fire that burned for 23 days in August of last year.

But environmentalists say in the complaint filed Friday in Sacramento federal court that the Forest Service is breaking the law by targeting the biggest, most valuable surviving trees in areas where old-growth is supposed to be protected while leaving behind slash piles of waste they say will actually boost fire threats.

They asked the court for an emergency restraining order to block the logging, which is scheduled to begin as early as next week.