Federal Judge Halts Logging In Illinois Bat Habitat
A federal judge recently ordered the U.S. Forest Service (FS) to suspend a logging project in Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, finding the 2024 approval of the project violated the Endangered Species Act.
According to the judge’s ruling, the agency improperly approved the project in October 2024 without waiting for a final biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an East St. Louis judge recently ruled. Completed six weeks after the FS approved the project, the biological opinion identified the roughly 70-acre project area as home to the federally protected Indiana bat.
Anti-logging groups sued the FS last summer, alleging the agency’s own August 2024 assessment showed Indiana bats had been detected in the project area.
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AOL Welcomes Joe Justice As New Executive Vice President
In mid-June the Associated Oregon Loggers welcomed the fifth Executive Vice President in AOL’s history when Joe Justice started work for the 57-year-old loggers association. A longtime Oregonian, Justice grew up in St. Helens and…
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