Sometimes bad ideas just keep coming back. Such is the case with the recently approved Handkerchief Mesa Timber Sale on the Rio Grande National Forest near Wolf Creek Pass. More than 10 years in the making, the Handkerchief Mesa project would result in more than 3,400 acres of high elevation logging in a vital lynx movement corridor, several sensitive watersheds, and popular backcountry ski terrain.
More than ten miles from the nearest home, Handkerchief Mesa is a perfect example of misplaced Forest Service priorities. Rather than address real wildfire risks for communities, the agency continues to approve outdated and simply inappropriate backcountry logging projects.
Although Colorado Wild successfully pressured the Forest Service to drop approximately 800 acres of proposed cutting due to concerns about water quality and wildlife impacts, the approved project fails to go far enough to protect these critical resources. Past logging in the project area - the headwaters of the Rio Grande River - have already degraded stream health, soils and wildlife habitat. Many areas already exceed legal standards for watershed and soil disturbance, yet the Forest Service is still proposing additional logging.
Through an appeal filed on June 2nd, we hope to force additional changes to the project to protect water quality, remediate compacted soils, preserve a critical lynx movement corridor, and ensure that the project is consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
More than ten miles from the nearest home, Handkerchief Mesa is a perfect example of misplaced Forest Service priorities. Rather than address real wildfire risks for communities, the agency continues to approve outdated and simply inappropriate backcountry logging projects.