Groups sue to stop logging in Flathead National Forest

Conservation groups in the Flathead Valley are suing the U.S. Forest Service over the West Reservoir Project in the Flathead National Forest.

The groups, supported by EarthJustice, say that the project, which will include 4.7 miles of new roads, 2,001 acres of logging and more than 4,600 acres of prescribed burning, has sidestepped protections and manufactured an “emergency” to push the project through. The advocacy groups, Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan are suing to stop the project.

The suit goes on to say that the Forest Service has failed to remedy violations to the Endangered Species Act. The project area is located west of Hungry Horse Reservoir and the suit was filed in Missoula.

“The Flathead fabricated an emergency in order to sidestep protections for grizzly bears and bull trout while also cutting the public out of the process,” Arlene Montgomery, program director for Friends of the Wild Swan, said in a press release. “They were planning this timber sale for 3 years, no emergency here, only unlawful behavior.”

The Forest Service does not typically comment on pending litigation.

The suit says building more roads can harm grizzly bears, which can learn to avoid roads, constricting their range. The plaintiffs also alleged the logging, road building and prescribed burns could harm endangered bull trout populations.

The Forest Service has said the project’s purpose “is to improve the diversity and resilience of forest vegetative communities and associated wildlife habitat.”

Courts have previously ruled in favor of conservation groups in Flathead National Forest, including dismissing an earlier appeal by the USFS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife regarding road building in that area.

“The West Reservoir project comes amidst a series of Trump administration attempts to undermine the Endangered Species Act and cast aside our nation’s most imperiled wildlife and ecosystems,” said Ben Levitan, senior attorney with Earthjustice’s Biodiversity Defense Program, in a press release. “We’re committed to giving imperiled species the protections they’re guaranteed under the law, including for grizzly bears and bull trout in Flathead National Forest.”