 |
|
 |
|
"Shovel Brigade" Reclaims Road The controversy in Jarbidge, Nevada, over the rights of local people to retain access to a national forest by a road the Forest Service wants to retire, escalated in July. On June 29, a federal judge denied a Forest Service injunction seeking to establish that trespassing on the road could, in itself, constitute a violation of the Endangered Species Act. Subsequently, on July 4, a gathering of about 500 people-local people and out-of-state sympathizers-removed a boulder blocking access to the contested South Canyon Road and, using hand-shovels, undertook some basic maintenance. The main task was emptying outhouses-neglected since 1995-at a Wilderness trailhead into an approved septic tank. (A remark on "government waste" was not lost on an Associated Press reporter.) The substance of District Judge Philip Pro's denial of the Forest Service's injunction was that the Forest Service had not proved that the trespass, of which it had been forewarned, was likely to cause harm to the Endangered bull trout in the watershed, although he did affirm (1) that actual harm to the trout's habitat would be a felony and (2) that the Forest Service did have the right to prevent trespass on its lands. However, the agency seems to have concluded that the better part of public relations is discretion and, lacking an injunction, decided not to interfere. The Elko [Nevada] Daily Free Press continues to provide heavy coverage of citizens' fight to reclaim the road, and a search for "Jarbidge shovel" at www.elkodaily.com will bring up the most recent stories. The Free Press also maintains an archive and chronology of related developments stretching back more than a year at www.edfp.com/jarbidge. Back to "News" Forest Resources Association
Inc. (FRA) |
 |