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WASHINGTON - A federal judge in Washington has ruled the U.S. Forest Service
violated the Freedom of Information Act while developing an ecological
assessment for the Shawnee National Forest.
Judge Richard W. Roberts on Friday ruled rough-draft copies of ecological
assessments of the Shawnee and Hoosier National Forest in Indiana sought by
Mark Donham and Heartwood are public record. The ecological assessments are an
important part of the forest plan -- the Forest Service will likely rely
heavily on the ecological assessments in putting together the new forest plans,
which are due for delivery in a few weeks, Donham said.
The documents have not been released yet. Donham expects the Forest Service to
appeal Roberts' ruling, he said.
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The Forest Service asked scientists from Purdue University, Southern
Illinois University, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the Nature
Conservancy of Indiana and the North Central Experiment Station to prepare the
ecological assessments, according to the ruling issued by Roberts. Donham
believed the Forest Service might be picking scientists to back up conclusions
already reached by Forest Service officials, he said.
"I was concerned that the Forest Service was getting together with
hand-picked scientists in a closed, back-room process, scientists who were
supportive of the conclusions that they wanted them to come to," Donham
said.
"So I just wanted to find out what was going on."
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Donham asked for the rough drafts, which deal with subjects like diversity
of aquatic life, freshwater resources, soil conditions, animal species and the historic
and prehistoric vegetation in the forests, according to the judge's order. The
Forest Service does not consider the documents final and objected to releasing
them before revisions could be made, citing the deliberative process exemption
of the federal FOIA in denying Donham's request.
Donham said he wanted to see what the Forest Service wants to change in the
reports.
Roberts ruled the Federal Advisory Committee Act requires public disclosure of
the activities of committees or panels organized to advise federal agencies,
even when the only role of the committee is to provide raw data.
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No policy recommendations were made in the ecological assessments, according
to Roberts' judicial opinion..
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