Sanpoil Project – Update June 21, 2023
Sanpoil Project proposed to log 8,400 acres in the upper Ninemile Creek area of the Sanpoil River watershed.
U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Bastian finding that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act in adopting the 2019 Colville National Forest Land Management Plan (Forest Plan) and deciding to proceed with the Sanpoil timber project. The Court found the Forest Service did not adequately analyze the cumulative impact of this logging when combined with other past and planned logging projects in the region, and that it did not provide a meaningful examination of the project’s impacts on several species, such as gray wolves, wolverine, and sensitive birds and bats. The Court held that the Forest Service must complete a full Environmental Impact Statement before proceeding with the project
Status: KRCG filed timely comments and project Objection, failed to achieve a negotiated administrative settlement and subsequently filed lawsuit in Spokane Federal District Court that was successful in reinstituting the Eastside Screens protecting trees >21” diameter breast height (dbh). Forest Service issued a Categorical Exclusion for Quartz Project to up to 3,000 acres in the former Sanpoil Project area.
