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Two lumber companies filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the legality of President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument during his last days in office.

Murphy Co. and a related company, Murphy Timber Investments LLC, filed the complaint in federal court in Medford against President Donald Trump, acting U.S. Secretary of the Interior Kevin Haugard, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management. The new administration could choose not to defend the lawsuit.

“The monument expansion is already having an immediate impact,” said Murphy Co. President John Murphy. “The Griffen Moon Timber Sale within the expansion area that was scheduled to be sold this summer has now been withdrawn without any replacement timber sale. The sale would have generated in excess of $500,000 for Jackson County.” The lawsuit says the timber sale involved thinning operations and would have generated 4 million board feet.

Murphy said more than 80 percent of the federal land included in the expansion area is dedicated to timber production through the O&C Lands Act. The 1937 act requires forests to be managed for sustained yield to ensure a permanent timber supply, watershed protection, recreation and economic stability for local communities and industries, according to the BLM. The act also requires the federal government to share logging revenues with counties.

In January, Obama used the federal Antiquities Act to add 47,624 acres of public land — 42,349 acres in Oregon and 5,275 acres in California — to the 66,000-acre monument east of Ashland.

From The Mail Tribune: http://www.mailtribune.com/news/20170217/lumber-companies-file-lawsuit-over-monument-expansion