Salvage timber logging to proceed

BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. Forest Service has dismissed an objection from an environmental group that sought to delay salvage logging of thousands of trees uprooted by a rare central Idaho tornado.

Bidding on timber sales has begun. Friday, the Forest Service will award contracts for an estimated 18.5 million board feet of downed and buckled timber in the Payette National Forest near the Oregon border, said spokesman Boyd Hartwig.

The WildWest Institute, an environmental group based in Missoula, Mont., filed an objection, which was dismissed last week.

The group complained the salvage logging would disrupt soils in the forest and clog sensitive waterways with sediments.

In June, a rare twister carrying 150 mph winds spun through the forest near Bear, Idaho, carving a 12-mile swath of downed trunks and snapped branches.

The cleanup plan was drafted in 82 days.