US Forest Service halts logging in Utah national forest

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — The U.S. Forest Service will halt the logging of 147,000 acres of trees within Utah’s Ashley National Forest in response to a lawsuit filed against the project by conservation groups.

The project was authorized by the Forest Service in October 2023. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, it would have torn down the habitat for many of Utah’s bighorn sheep, deer, elk, bear, and raptors. The forest also provides a home for rare forest animals such as the lynx and wolverine.

Ted Zukoski, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, called the halting of the project a “big win” for the Ashley National Forest.

“While it’s a great relief the Aspen Project has been shelved for now, it never should’ve been approved in the first place,” Zukoski said. “Our biologically rich natural places need to be protected, not logged.”

The Ashley National Forest spans 1.4 million acres in northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming. The logging project would have taken place entirely within the Beehive State borders.

The project would have reportedly removed conifers and aspens through commercial logging and prescribed burns.

The Center for Biological Diversity said the ecosystem in the forest supports a wide array of plant and animal species in part because of its diversity. The center said the first is considered the most important deciduous forest in western North America. The aspen also acts as natural fuel breaks and can play an important role in wildfire impression and management.

“We appreciate that the Forest Service came to their senses and withdrew their plan to log and burn inventoried roadless areas on the Ashley,” said Native Ecosystems Council Director Sara Johnson, PhD. “In the future, we hope they don’t force us to take them to court. This project would have destroyed songbird habitat, many of which are declining in numbers.”

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