contact Michael Garrity, Executive Director, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, (406) 459-5936 or Steve Kelly, (406) 586-4421
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council filed a lawsuit today in Federal District Court to stop the proposed Millie Roadside Timber Sale on the Gallatin National Forest, 12 miles south of Bozeman, MT. The proposed clearcutting is along 15 miles of roads, 8 of which are closed for wildlife security, in grizzly bear habitat and in occupied Canada lynx habitat and lynx critical habitat.
“Once again the federal government is demonstrating that they are serial law breakers,” said Steve Kelly, Bozeman resident and Alliance for the Wild Rockies board member. “The Forest Service is attempting to exempt logging from Congressional oversight and public participation. But this is public land, and the Forest Service needs to prepare an environmental analysis for public review that discloses how this project will affect our National Forest and the fish and wildlife habitat the forest supports.”
“The Forest Service is trying to use a categorical exclusion instead of doing an Environmental Assessment on this project,” said Mike Garrity, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “But categorical exclusions were only meant to be used for projects such as maintaining outhouses and mowing lawns at Ranger Stations — not clearcutting endangered species habitat.”
Sara Jane Johnson, PhD., is the Director of the Native Ecosystems Council and a former Gallatin National Forest wildlife biologist. “The Forest Service is ignoring the recent ruling in the Bozeman Watershed case, where the Court ordered the Forest Service to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on their lynx management plan and any projects that affect lynx critical habitat.”
“The clearcutting along roads in Millie Creek will adversely affect both grizzly bears and lynx, which violates the Endangered Species Act,” Johnson continued. “It’s puzzling why the Obama administration seems to think that our nation’s laws don’t apply to them. Their strategy for managing endangered species is an illogical and illegal strategy that will lead to extinction, not recovery, for lynx. The government is supposed to work to protect lynx critical habitat, not clearcut it.”
“If we want to recover the grizzly bear and lynx and remove them from the Endangered Species list, they need secure habitat on public land,” Johnson explained. “Otherwise they will be forced onto private land, where they often end up dead.”
“The proposed clearcutting is in the Gallatin Grizzly Bear Analysis Unit in an area where the Forest Service is not even complying with the secure habitat requirements in the 2006 Gallatin National Forest Travel Plan Biological Opinion,” added the Alliance’s Garrity. “The result is more dead grizzly bears, which in the vernacular of the Endangered Species Act is called ‘unpermitted take’ and is blatantly illegal.”
“The Forest Service claims the Project will have no effect on secure habitat for grizzly bears because road use will not increase above existing levels,” Garrity concluded. “The Millie Creek logging decision calls for opening 8 miles of currently restricted administrative roads to logging which will drive grizzly bears away. More taxpayer-subsidized clearcutting is not how the government is supposed to protect habitat for endangered species.”
