Two groups that advocate for forests and wilderness are suing the US Forest service to stop construction of a road in the Shawnee National Forest. The groups - Wilderness Watch and Heartwood filed suit Tuesday in Federal Court in the Southern District of Illinois.
The groups' lawsuit says the Forest Service violated the Wilderness Act by allowing the construction of a 2.5 mile long road at the request of private landowners road through the Lusk Creek Wilderness. They also claim that the Forest service unlawfully used an exclusion to avoid review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
According to the filing the Forest service allowed the construction through the forest to provide access to a one acre inholding area. The road construction would connect that area to an 87-acre parcel outside the National Forest. The groups say the plan would transform an existing primitive rout into an all season road.
The suit asks the Forest Service to abandon its road-building plan, close the existing route through Wilderness, and either provide non-Wilderness access or consider a land swap or purchase of the private land.
