Local environmentalists are working to permanently stop the cutting in the Cripps Bend area of the Shawnee National Forest following an extension on a temporary restraining order.

The reason for the extension, according to Cathleen Tracy of the Student Environmental Center, is that Benton Judge Phil Gilbert doesn’t want to come to a conclusion too quickly.

He (Judge Gilbert) is still trying to research documents about the Indiana bat and the Cripps Bend area and he didn’t want to make any rash decisions about logging in Cripps Bend, Tracy said.

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A decision in the case is expected on Aug. 29, following the expiration of the temporary restraining order extension on Aug. 28.

The case originated when environmentalist William Kronin filed a lawsuit claiming an environmental impact assessment performed in Shawnee was done incorrectly. The lawsuit states that the Forest Service did not follow United States Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines during the cutting.

Stanley Curtis, owner of Carbondale Veneer, said his company will continue logging if the judge rules in favor of the forest service. If the ruling is for Kronin, he said his company will not harvest the trees and the land will be left alone.

My opinion is we should have the timber sale, Curtis said.

Jim Reh, activist and board member of Heartwood, an environmental group, said the Forest Service was supposed to send people out to the site and look for the 2,000 nationally endangered Indiana bats, which use the forest as a summer habitat. They (the Forest Service) haven’t used qualified personnel or methods, Reh said.

I’m not opposed to all logging, Reh said. I do believe in using wood. He also said he is opposed to the direct competition the logging is causing with landowners.

I’m opposed to the arrogance of people thinking the only way the forests can survive is by screwing them up, Reh said.

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Holly Harris, member of the SIUC Student Environmental Center and Shawnee Earth First said she and other environmentalists appreciate the decision.

It’s positive to be given an extension of the restraining order. What he’ll (Gilbert) do on the 29th, I don’t know, Harris said.

Prior to the restraining order being extended, protesters stayed at Cripps Bend educating the public on logging and the area and giving tours.

Jan Wilder-Thomas, member of the Shawnee Defense Fund, said during the protest, she and others wanted to make citizens aware of the logging in the forest.

We just wanted to maintain a presence, to make a statement that we were there.’ It’s definitely put Cripps Bend in the public eye.

Few protesters remain in the Cripps Bend area, but the environmentalists said when Aug. 29 draws near, it is expected a group of demonstrators will be in the Cripps Bend area until a decision is made.

Wilder-Thomas said the ideal conclusion of the situation would be for President Bill Clinton to step in and place the Paul Simon Songbird National Monument, in honor of the retiring senator.

Another qualm the environmentalists have against the logging is that it does not allow animals to wander up and down the area without gaps in the forest.

The logging of the forest also affects the migratory songbird population which stops in the forest on the way to Mexico, Harris said. With the cutting of trees, it allows cowbirds to invade the area and push out the songbirds which causes a decline in the songbird population, she said.