EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Nine, Number One November/December 1999 What Next? Loggers Accuse Forest Service Of Establishing Religion In a lawsuit filed Sept. 30 in St. Paul MN, the plaintiffs, Associated Contract Loggers, Inc. and Olson Logging, Inc., accuse the defendants, United States Forest Service (USFS) and two environmental groups, Superior Wilderness Action Network (SWAN) and Forest Guardians, of using religion to reduce timber harvests. Excerpts from the Complaint follow. "Defendants SWAN and Forest Guardians have constrained Defendant USFS to follow certain religious beliefs on the sacredness of trees and other natural flora and fauna such that Defendent USFS is complicit in the establishment of religion, contrary to the provisions of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. "Defendant SWAN has brought judicial action against Defendant USFS to stop, delay, hinder, postpone or otherwise impede sales of timber and the construction of temporary winter roads. "Defendant Forest Guardians has intervened in proposed sales of timber put out for bid by Defendant USFS to prevent such sales. Defendant Forest Guardians makes a constant effort to end commercial logging on public lands and stop aspen clear-cutting by the USFS. "Defendant USFS has failed in its duty, first, to provide Plaintiffs with sustained yields of timber for public sale and, second, to provide timely access to non-federal owned land through special use permits. Third, Defendant USFS threatens to allow any challenge to a timber sale, even challenges masking suspect religious motivations, to stop the sale of timber.." ...et cetera, et cetera... For the entire complaint, contact SWAN Executive Director Ray Fenner, fenner@PioneerPlanet.infi.net Home     Table of Contents