New Lawsuit Challenges Logging and Burning in the Hoosier National Forest

On behalf of clients in southern Indiana, including the Commissioners and Environmental Commission of Monroe County, the Indiana Forest Alliance, and the Hoosier Environmental Council, we filed a Complaint challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to conduct logging and prescribed burning over 13,500 acres of the Hoosier National Forest, and submitted an Endangered Species Act notice letter explaining how the Service’s actions unlawfully imperil threatened and endangered species. The only National Forest in Indiana, the Hoosier is home to the state’s only congressionally designated wilderness and provides habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the Indiana Bat. The Forest Service plans to conduct logging and burning in the watershed of Lake Monroe—which is the sole source of public drinking water for over 140,000 people in the area of Bloomington—and our lawsuit challenges the Service’s failure to seriously consider how its actions may harm the environment, including the quality of the Lake’s water and the habitat of vulnerable species, and the agency’s failure to consider any alternatives that could better protect the environment. The lawsuit also alleges that the Service’s decision to take actions that could further harm Lake Monroe is at odds with the agency’s own Forest Plan, which obligates the Service to protect and restore the health of watersheds. A copy of the Complaint can be found here, and a copy of the Notice Letter can be found here.