Court Invalidates Forest Service Logging and Burning Plan

In a victory for our clients—the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, Indiana Forest Alliance, Hoosier Environmental Council, and Doctor Paul David Simcox—the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana invalidated a plan by the United States Forest service (“USFS”) to log and burn thousands of acres in the Hoosier National Forest. The court found that USFS violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider the impacts from its actions on Lake Monroe, which is a unique and irreplaceable resource that serves as the only source of drinking water for over 120,000 people. A copy of the court’s ruling can be found here.