Lawsuit Targets New Forest Service Roads in Jaguar, Mexican Spotted Owl Habitat in Arizona
Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Chiricahua Regional Council, Natural Allies, Wild Arizona, and Conservation CATalyst, filed a lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to build new roads and allow increased motorized access through three sensitive canyons in the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Roads in these remote canyons would put endangered wildlife at risk from noise and other harassment, increase the risk of fire and pollute clean water.
Today’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, seeks to protect wildlife in sensitive and remote riparian habitat. Nearly 3 miles of proposed new roads would re-open access to about 20 miles of forest roads that are currently closed.
This concerns the USFS’s Chiricahua Access Project.
