COEUR d'ALENE - A group of conservation organizations and individuals has filed a 71-page formal objection to a revised plan for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

The organizations include the Kootenai Environmental Alliance (KEA), the Idaho chapter of the Sierra Club, Friends of the Clearwater and others. They said the plan lacks measurable standards upon which to base sound decisions.

"Unlike the current forest plan, there are few if any obligatory standards for water quality, wildlife habitat, or other public values to make sure these resources are maintained or improved," said Jeff Juel, a member of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which joined the formal objection.

"The plan falls far short in protecting habitat for caribou and grizzly," said Liz Sedler, also of the Alliance. "The revised plan does not protect old forests; rather it allows them to be logged."

The Idaho Panhandle is a 2.5-million-acre national forest extending from the St. Joe river to Canada, and encompassing the Idaho Panhandle and a small area of northeastern Washington.

A forest plan breaks a forest into management areas, describing the types of activities allowed in those areas. The original forest plan was implemented in 1987.

John Osborn, a Spokane physician and chairman of the Sierra Club's Upper Columbia River group, criticized the U.S. Forest Service for not connecting the plan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund cleanup plan.

"The Panhandle forest plan is stunningly silent on mine wastes and the Superfund cleanup," Osborn said.

"The Forest Service needs to do right by those of us who live, recreate and fish in the Coeur d'Alene (River) Basin," said Adrienne Cronebaugh of KEA.

There have been several objections to the forest plan, said Jason Kirchner, a spokesman for Panhandle National Forests.

"We have people who would like it to be more restrictive, and those who would like it be less," he said. "We feel that our forest plan is the best possible balance between all of the competing interests, which still meets the requirements of science and the law."

The process of producing a revised plan for the Panhandle began about 12 years ago, but it has been slowed by federal court proceedings related to forest plan rules.

As the Forest Service has developed the final revised plan it has involved 90 working groups. It has also conducted four different public comment periods and written two different draft documents.

"It's this immense level of public participation that makes us feel confident that we've developed a balanced plan," Kirchner said.

The final revised plan was released Sept. 23. Tuesday was the final day to file an objection. A 90-day review period of the objections begins in mid-December.

The objections will be reviewed by the Forest Service chief or a deputy. The objections will be accepted, denied or a meeting will be conducted to discuss the objection and find a resolution.

The earliest the plan could be implemented is March, Kirchner said.

The Kootenai National Forest, in Montana, and Idaho Panhandle National Forests are the first to open an objection period during a forest revision process.