Four conservation organizations are suing the United States Forest Service and specifically the Flathead National Forest for a logging project they say violates several different federal laws, and disregards other projects in the area that cumulatively will hurt Canada lynx and grizzly bears, two species protected by law.
The Round Star Vegetation Management Project is classified as a major logging project in the Flathead National Forest and is planned to take place 13 miles west of Whitefish. It authorizes logging on 9,151 acres, including more than 6,300 acres of “core” habitat for lynx and grizzly bear. That includes nearly 20 miles of new, permanent roads, 3.4 miles of temporary roads, 5.6 miles of new trails, an expanded parking area, warming shelter and equipment building at the Round Meadow trailhead.
The Daily Montanan reports the lawsuit said that by ignoring other ongoing logging and “treatment” plans for areas in the forest and surrounding it, the agency has failed to look at the cumulative effects, and, indeed, seems to be intentionally ignoring them to make the project look smaller than it is.
The U.S. Forest Service does not comment on pending litigation as a matter of policy.
The groups that are challenging the Forest Service include Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, Council on Wildlife and Fish, and the Yellowstone to Uintas Connection.
The Flathead National Forest is classified as core lynx habitat meaning that not only are lynx found there, but also use it to raise their young, as well as hunt. The lawsuit contends that the Round Star project would severely jeopardize the lynx’s main prey, snowshoe hare, which are common throughout the Tally Lake Ranger District.
“Lynx productivity is highly dependent on the quantity and quality of winter snowshoe hare habitat,” the lawsuit said. “Activities such as logging, fire suppression, and livestock grazing can affect the amount, distribution and condition of lynx denning and winter snowshoe hare habitat.”
That hunting becomes even more important during the winter time, the lawsuit said.
“For example, landscape-scale fragmentation directly affects lynx by creating openings that increase access by competing carnivores such as coyotes and mountain lions, especially in the winter when lynx have traditionally been able to exploit their evolutionary edge in places where deep, soft snow tends to exclude other predators during the time of year that prey is most limiting,” the lawsuit said.
Other projects
The conservation groups said the Forest Service did not consider other logging or disruptive projects in its plans, which federal law says must be part of the analysis.
“For example, the Forest Service did not consider the Stillwater Unit of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation timber sale that has been proposed in the project area, which will regenerate 399 acres of forest. Nor did it consider the massive forthcoming Cyclone Bill Project,” it said.
It criticizes the Forest Service for not producing maps of the project because the groups contend it would show the overlap between the projects.
“The environmental analysis does not include anything resembling the following map of the reasonably foreseeable actions so that the agency or the public could fully understand the scale, timeline, and/or proximity of other authorized or proposed logging projects to the Round Star Project’s treatment units,” it said.
The lawsuit argues that because those projects share borders within the Tally Lake Ranger District, the project takes on a much larger scope, which would trigger a host of federal laws. In total, those projects encompass 41,863 acres with more than 100 miles of new roads. Attorneys for the groups say that the Forest Service is obligated under federal law to consider the total cumulative impact of those projects which are located in the district.
Grizzly bears
The groups also say that the Forest Service did not properly consider the impacts to grizzly bears in the area, which includes documentation of at least two breeding female bears who have raised cubs there.
The lawsuit said that the proposed project will decrease the amount of cover and vegetation available, which will decrease the ungulate food that grizzlies hunt. Moreover, the new roads and new recreation have been proven to drive grizzlies away from those activities.
Removing trees and “cover” for ungulates will reduce the number of them in the area, which will, in turn, the lawsuit said, drive them away from the core habitat area.
“It will take at least 20 years for these units to start providing forage habitat and hiding cover again,” the lawsuit said.
The groups have asked the federal court in Missoula to vacate the project decision and send the issue back to the Forest Service to evaluate it, and enjoin the project from moving forward.
“If anyone wonders why we’re taking the Forest Service to court over the Round Star logging project, there is one primary reason: Lynx critical habitat is the worst place for clearcuts,” said Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “The surest way to drive lynx to extinction is allowing Biden’s Forest Service to continue their massive deforestation of the West.”
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