A Santa Barbara environmental watchdog organization is suing to get the U.S. Forest Service to release documents about a plan to log trees and remove vegetation in large areas of Los Padres National Forest.
The plan would affect Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Kern counties.
Los Padres ForestWatch, an environmental nonprofit based in Santa Barbara, filed the suit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following a series of requests the group filed under the Freedom of Information Act this summer. Those requests asked the Forest Service to disclose several documents pertaining to the Ecological Restoration Project.
Los Padres Forest Watch described the project as the largest mechanical alteration of land in the national forest’s history. In a news release, the organization said heavy industrial equipment would be used to clear vegetation and extensively log trees across 235,000 acres of national forest land in five counties.
The organization’s lawsuit asks the court to refer the matter to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to examine alleged systemic abuses in how Los Padres officials respond to requests from the public. The suit cites “arbitrary and capricious conduct of Forest Service personnel.”
The Forest Service has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
