GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service is lifting a logging ban on national forests imposed as part of the government shutdown.
The agency filed documents in U.S. District Court in Medford on Thursday saying that contract officers will start notifying timber purchasers that they can resume work. The documents were part of a motion filed by the Forest Service to dismiss a lawsuit from the timber industry over the logging shutdown.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which sells timber in Western Oregon, lifted its logging ban, too.
A hearing on the lawsuit was scheduled Thursday.
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The barricades have been taken away from the main entrance to Crater Lake National Park as federal employees in Oregon begin to go back to work after the end of the partial government shutdown.
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service is lifting a logging ban on national forests imposed as part of the government shutdown.
The agency filed documents in U.S. District Court in Medford on Thursday saying that contract officers will start notifying timber purchasers that they can resume work. The documents were part of a motion filed by the Forest Service to dismiss a lawsuit from the timber industry over the logging shutdown.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which sells timber in Western Oregon, lifted its logging ban, too.
A hearing on the lawsuit was scheduled Thursday.
However, the timber industry said Thursday it is going ahead with a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service over the logging shutdown on national forests. A hearing was scheduled in U.S. District Court in Medford.
There was no immediate word from the Forest Service on whether loggers could resume work on timber sales that were shut down because there were no government personnel to oversee them.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife says national wildlife refuges are open again for hunting, bird-watching and hiking, although some special events may be delayed.
