A federal judge’s ruling calling for the re-working of U.S. Forest Service policy has caused mixed emotions among area environmental protesters.

The ruling is seen by the protesters as a positive step in saving the Shawnee, but members said it comes too late to save the Cripps Bend area of the forest.

I’m ecstatic (about the re-evaluation), SIUC Student Environmental Center member Holly Harris said. I’m very glad the courts have recognized that the Forest Service is not doing an adequate job protecting Shawnee National Forest. The court had to step in and tell them they (the Forest Service) were wrong.

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The ruling came following a lawsuit that was filed in April 1994 by the Sierra Club and the Regional Association for Concerned Environmentalists, two environmental groups.

Ed Cook, a member of the Sierra Club, said because of the judge’s ruling, the Forest Service will have to go back to the drawing board and rework its forest plan.

Judge J. Phil Gilbert said the Forest Service had not considered the cumulative impact of its actions in the forest. He said the Forest Service had been arbitrary and capricious in their assesment of the minimal area of contiguous forest canopy needed to protect the neo-tropicals (songbirds).

Cook said this ruling may affect the future timber harvest at Burner Hill in the Shawnee National Forest.

Gilbert ruled in favor of both parties involved in the lawsuit. He ruled again for the environmentalists stating that the Forest Service had not considered the environmental impact of all-terrain vehicle use and the leasing of gas and oil rights. But Gilbert ruled in favor of the Forest Service on their decision to keep particular areas of the forest open for habitat of species and rejected the environmentalists’ objections to timber harvesting.

Forest Service officials said they could not comment on the judge’s ruling because the case is still in litigation. Gilbert called a hearing on the ruling for Oct. 18.

The ruling was made too late to halt a timber harvest at Cripps Bend, but environmentalists said they are pleased with the decision to re-evaluate the Forest Service policy. Many said they remain skeptical, however.

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On Sept. 12, protesters moved into Cripps Bend to demonstrate the logging of trees in Shawnee. On Sept. 21 a logging company moved into the area to complete the timber harvest. The harvest took about two weeks to finish. Protesters have since left the forest.

It’s too late for Cripps Bend, environmentalist Jan Wilder-Thomas said. I’m not positive they (the Forest Service) will come out with a sensible plan.

Wilder-Thomas said the re-evaluation does give the protesters time to regroup and prepare for future timber harvests.

It allows us to organize, she said. I hope to get enough people educated to alter what the Shawnee will look like in the next 10 years.

Wilder-Thomas said she believes Gilbert made his ruling blindly.

He does not understand the true nature of the area, Wilder-Thomas said.

It’s a bittersweet victory, she said. If he would have ruled a week early, Cripps Bend would have been saved.