Judge Sees Violation Over U.S. Forest Plan

A federal judge in Boise said the U.S. Forest Service violated public disclosure requirements before approving a Clinton administration plan to put 58 million acres of roadless forest land nationwide off-limits to logging.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge said there was “strong evidence that because of the hurried nature of this process the Forest Service was not well informed enough to present a coherent proposal or meaningful dialogue and that the end result was predetermined.”

But Lodge refused a request from the state of Idaho to immediately block the plan. He said he will withhold a decision until reviewing a report from the Bush administration on the plan’s status, due May 4.