The U.S. Forest Service’s (NFS) environmental assessment of one of its projects in the Monongahela National Forest is the subject of a strong objection filed January 3 by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy (WVHC).
The Greenbrier Southeast project in the Monongahela National Forest, located in Pocahontas County, WV, according to the NFS, “seeks to improve forest stand health and composition to improve future wildlife habitat and to provide for future commercial timber sales and economic projects.”
In its filed objection, WVHC stated:
This objection is made necessary by significant deficiencies in the Final Environmental Assessment for the project. These deficiencies leave us in doubt about whether sensitive resources would be protected adequately, such that—without additional analyses and protections—the impacts of the GSE project are likely to be significant. The deficiencies fall into two broad categories:
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Inattention to analysis requirements related to the endangered candy darter and its designated critical habitat.
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Unsupported conclusions concerning project effects and incomplete development of proposed mitigations.
For a copy of the WVHC objection letter, click here.