Tribe files suit to stop Clear Creek restoration project

The Nez Perce Tribe filed a lawsuit Saturday against the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest and its Clear Creek Integrated Restoration Project, the signature accomplishment of the 6-year-old Clearwater Basin Collaborative.

The project is expected to produce 85 million board feet of timber, sustain more than 2,100 jobs and generate $60 million in "community harvest income."

However, the tribe believes the logging and road work threatens to foul Clear Creek with sediment and negatively impact the Clear Creek National Hatchery it manages. The creek is the water source for the hatchery that produced more than 600,000 juvenile spring chinook.

According to the lawsuit, the agency used outdated and inaccurate models that severely underestimated the amount of sediment currently leaching into Clear Creek and underestimated the amount of additional sediment that would reach the stream if the project were implemented. It also claims the project would make elk too vulnerable to harvest. The lawsuit claims the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Administrative Procedures Act, National Forest Management Act and the Endangered Species Act.

According to the lawsuit, the tribe repeatedly made its concerns known to the Forest Service through its participation on the collaborative, through comments on draft documents, through government-to-government consultations, through meetings with the agency's leadership and communication with Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell.

Tribal Chairwoman Mary Jane Miles said the agency and the tribe have worked closely together for many years, particularly on efforts to improve salmon and steelhead and water quality by obliterating decades-old logging roads, replacing undersized culverts, planting trees and treating noxious weeds.

"The tribe values this working relationship; however, we fear this project will completely reverse much of the progress that has been made. The fear is further magnified by the fact that justification of this massive project is not only based on outdated science, the science that was used was not even applied correctly," she said in a news release. "Unfortunately, the Forest Service ignored the tribe's effort to point out the problems with this project. As a result the tribe has no other avenue to stop implementation of the flawed decision except with litigation."

Citing its frustration, the tribe dropped its participation in the Clearwater Basin Collaborative earlier this year and it also asked the Forest Service to stop applying money the tribe receives for its watershed restoration work as required matching for funding the agency receives under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Act.

Forest Supervisor Cheryl Probert could not be reached for comment. Alex Irby, co-chairman of the collaborative, called the lawsuit disappointing and said it's been one of the best monitored programs that has ever been done on the forest.

The lawsuit was filed electronically in U.S. District Court of Idaho in the early morning hours of Saturday.

---

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.