Forest Service Pays $70,000 to End Restoration Project Suit (1)

The US Forest Service will pay $70,000 for attorneys’ fees and costs after settling a lawsuit challenging its approval of an Indiana forest restoration project that was paused in March.

The Houston South Vegetation Management and Restoration Project in Hoosier National Forest was hit with a preliminary injunction after a court found Monroe County’s Board of Commissioners and other environmental groups sufficiently alleged that the agency failed to fully evaluate the risk the project posed to Lake Monroe, which serves at least 120,000 people.

• The parties agreed to dismiss the case April 13 after the agency withdrew its supplemental information ...