The U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday removed the web page providing public information on its management plan for the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests. The move came after Asheville Watchdog published a story about the flawed data used to justify a dramatic expansion of logging in the plan.
The Watchdog report found inconsistencies and misleading data in key models in the Forest Service’s 2023 management plan, which calls for levels of logging in the national forests nearly six times higher than they were under the previous plan. The story relied on an extensive review of public records, including many documents that had been publicly available on the Forest Service website.
The Forest Service did not immediately respond to questions Thursday about why it removed the information…