BOISE, Idaho — A giant Idaho forest project favored by some environmental groups but decried by others is on hold again following a federal court ruling.
The decision Tuesday halts for the second time a 125-square-mile project on the Payette National Forest that includes commercial timber sales, work to improve fish passage, prescribed burning, closing roads and restoration of Ponderosa pine ecosystems.
The project with a lengthy legal history had previously gone before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the U.S. Forest Service lost. The Forest Service renewed the project, but a U.S. District Court ruled the latest plan contains the same environmental law violations the appeals court previously cited.
