Feds squabble with conservation groups over Montana logging project

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Banjos Unite

Alexander Nakarada · creatorchords.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Colin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Four conservation groups sued the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and a Flathead National Forest district ranger over the 'Cyclone Bill' project, which would cut or burn more than 12,000 acres near Whitefish, Montana, in habitat the groups say is critical for grizzly bear gene flow between recovery zones and for Canada lynx.

Government attorneys argued the project reduces wildfire severity, creates over 1,300 acres of secure grizzly habitat, and results in a net decrease in open road mileage, since most grizzly deaths occur near logging roads. The plaintiffs counter that regulators downplayed cumulative impacts from this project stacked on the neighboring 'Round Star' logging project already underway nearby, for which the same groups were denied a preliminary injunction earlier this year.

A trade association, American Forest Resource Council, has intervened defending the project, noting six contracts are already awarded and work is underway. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen heard arguments Wednesday and did not indicate when he would rule.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Everybody in this courtroom claims to be the bear's best friend, which is a nice trick when one side is also holding a chainsaw. Reducing wildfire risk and protecting a grizzly corridor might both be true at once, but it is the kind of convenient alignment that tends to show up right after the contracts get signed. We'll see what the judge makes of the math on open roads and secure habitat; bears, as far as we know, were not consulted.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Banjos Unite · Alexander Nakarada · CC BY 4.0