SALT LAKE CITY— Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service today for approving logging within up to 147,000 acres of sensitive roadless habitat in Utah’s Ashley National Forest.

In October 2023 the Forest Service authorized the Aspen Project, which will chainsaw habitat for bighorn sheep, deer, elk, bear and raptors, including the imperiled northern goshawk. The forest also provides habitat for elusive and rare forest dwellers, including lynx and wolverine.

“This logging is a huge threat to the Ashley’s beautiful roadless forests, which are rich in biological diversity and beloved by hunters, hikers and many others,” said Ted Zukoski, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Forest Service officials are supposed to protect these wild places and the plants and animals that depend on them, but with this logging plan they’re ignoring that duty.”

Although called a restoration project, the Aspen Project will remove both conifers and aspen using commercial logging and prescribed fire inside designated Roadless Areas across the forest. The federal Roadless Area Conservation Rule prohibits the cutting, sale or removal of trees inside Roadless Areas except in limited circumstances when the removal of generally small-diameter trees is allowed.

In authorizing the Aspen Project, the Forest Service violated the Roadless Rule by failing to place any limits on the size of trees to be logged. The agency has also refused to disclose exactly where or when the logging will occur.

“Logging and burning of roadless areas destroys song bird habitat, many of which are declining in numbers,” said Sara Johnson, director of Native Ecosystems Council. “The government should be working to conserve these species, not destroy their habitat.”

Aspen ecosystems support a wide array of plant and animal species because of their high productivity and structural diversity. Many consider it the most important deciduous forest type in western North America. In addition, aspen stands play an increasingly important role in the suppression and management of wildfires because they can act as natural fuel breaks.

“Unmanaged aspens stands are stunningly beautiful. They are a gift from God,” said Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “Forest Service mismanagement is the cause of the decline of aspen stands, not the cure, especially in roadless areas.”

Ashley National Forest spans 1.4 million acres in northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming. The proposed logging project is entirely within the Utah portion of the forest.

The Ashley is renowned for its spectacular scenery, including the High Uintas Wilderness, located about 70 miles east of Salt Lake City, and King’s Peak, the highest point in Utah.

“As someone who has spent many days backpacking in wild aspen forests on the Ashley, I know how precious these places are,” said Jason Christensen, director of Yellowstone to Uintas Connection. “They should be protected, not logged.”

The lawsuit was filed in the District of Utah with Oliver Wood representing Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council and Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, and Ted Zukoski representing the Center.