A fight is brewing in the Bitterroot National Forest over the impact that the road less traveled has on wildlife.
"Roads really impact grizzly bears. It's kind of the primary factor in determining whether an area is suitable for grizzly bear habitat or not,” Earthjustice senior associate attorney Ben Scrimshaw told MTN.
The Bozeman-based law firm Earthjustice filed notice of its intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service over changes to road planning in the Bitterroot National Forest in mid-September.
The notice claims a Forest Plan amendment approved last year violates the Endangered Species Act, putting grizzlies and bull trout at risk. The notice, filed on behalf of conservation groups, says the amendment will lead to increased road building and usage within the forest, impinging on habitat and disrupting species.
"Grizzly bears learn to avoid roads. They can pass that avoidance behavior down generations and areas that should be important grizzly bear habitat becomes unsuitable because of the presence of roads,” Scrimshaw said. “And then on the flip side, you have some bears — it's more rare but it happens — that become habituated to roads and that's because maybe they find food along the road or, or something else. And that's an even more dangerous situation for the bear because then they're more likely to come into contact with humans, which often means that the grizzly bears end up being killed."
While Mike Bader, an independent natural resources consultant and former Yellowstone National Park ranger, is not involved in the potential lawsuit, he understands why people are concerned. Because the Bitterroot National Forest, like the Lolo National Forest, lies in between major bear recovery areas, Bader says it is extremely important for grizzly population health and roads can compromise this.
"It creates access for poachers and then it just generally shrinks the habitat into smaller and smaller pockets. And those pockets end up being too small and the bears have to go outside those pockets,” Bader said. “And when they do, that really increases their risk of encountering a human or getting into garbage or something like that, that creates a conflict that will result in the bear's death."
In addition to impacting individual bears, Bader says the bigger issue is on a population level. If bears cannot move between these pockets of habitat, it has genetic consequences.
"Currently all the populations in the Northern Rockies are isolated and none of them are big enough to be viable for the long term. And the Bitterroot ecosystem has a huge amount of suitable habitat for grizzly bears,” Bader noted. “And so, getting a population established there would greatly increase the chances of grizzly surviving in the entire Northern Rockies."
While the U.S. Forest Service tells MTN News they do not comment on pending litigation, they outlined their plans to mitigate some of the problems that roads can cause for species when they approved the amendment last September. For grizzlies, this means providing what they call "secure habitat," or roadless areas.
The conservation groups fear this will lead to a patchwork of disconnected habitat.
"The problem is, is that the Forest Service measured 'secure habitat' for grizzly bears in tiny one-acre slivers of land. So, basically, you multiply my backyard by four and you have secure grizzly bear habitat. And that's just, it's not how grizzly bear biology works,” Scrimshaw said.
Allowing bears to pass between secure habitat is key to ensuring populations can survive events like wildfire and drought.
"The whole connectivity thing, that's the whole ball game right there for grizzly bears,” Bader noted.
In addition to impacting grizzlies, the notice claims the amendment will harm bull trout. Sediment from roads can enter streams, clogging trout gills and the steam itself, leading to shallower, warmer water.
Earthjustice plans to move forward with the lawsuit If the U.S. Forest Service does not change its plans by mid-November.
