Gravelly Mountain Range – U.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service cancelled an illegal public land logging project due to a recently-filed lawsuit by Montana conservation group Alliance for the Wild Rockies on May 20th. The illegal logging was scheduled to occur in the Gravelly Mountains of southwest Montana, in an area that provides a critical wildlife corridor connecting the Yellowstone area to other mountain ranges in Montana. The area is home to endangered species including grizzly bears, lynx, and wolverines, as well as large wild elk herds.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The illegal Greenhorn logging project would have allowed wildlife habitat destruction in the form of industrial logging, road-building, and burning activities across thousands of acres of public lands in this key wildlife corridor zone in Montana’s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The government cancelled the project in response to Alliance’s lawsuit because the government knew it would lose in court.
The project would have been enormous. Planned in an area located about 10 miles south of Virginia City, Montana, the project called for bulldozing 28.7 miles of new and rebuilt logging roads to enable logging and burning over 17,000 acres or 26.5 square miles in prime wildlife habitat, much of it in inventoried roadless areas.
Lynx – U.S. Forest Service
Prior to project approval, the government illegally eliminated 1.1 million acres of lynx habitat protections on the Beaverhead -Deerlodge National Forest. The government then relied on that illegal conduct to authorize logging for the project. Multiple federal courts have found this to be illegal, so when Alliance’s lawsuit was filed, the government cancelled the project because they knew it was illegal. However, without Alliance’s lawsuit, the illegal project would have plowed forward.
Sage grouse by Richard Prodgers
Sage grouse populations are also in very steep decline and the federal government is desperately trying to keep from having them listed under the Endangered Species Act. Consequently, destroying their habitat with clearcutting, burning, and bulldozing simply made no sense. Nonetheless, the government never applied their own mandatory sage grouse protections to this project.
Also, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest Plan requires that 60% of the Gravellies be managed for secure grizzly habitat. Currently only 54% of the Gravellies provide secure habitat for grizzlies and the Greenhorn project would have reduced grizzly secure habitat by one third. At the same time the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks is trucking grizzly bears from the Glacier ecosystem to the Yellowstone ecosystem for genetic connectivity. Why not just follow the law, protect the grizzly corridor, and let grizzlies walk there on their own? This government action just never made sense.
Alliance caught the government breaking the law. Alliance sued. The government backed down. This is a great victory for wildlife. With your help, Alliance will continue its fearless efforts to do this work.
Because the government cancelled the project after Alliance sued, Alliance’s attorneys will not get paid for the hundreds of hours of work it takes to file a winning lawsuit like this and protect thousands of acres of habitat for endangered species. Similarly, Alliance won’t ever get back the costs and fees it paid to bring this critical — and victorious — case in federal court.
So Alliance must rely on the public — on you — to fund this work. Alliance cannot bring lawsuits without your financial support.
If we had not filed the lawsuit, this illegal project would still be happening. Please donate to help us continue this critical work — our recurring victories in court are a light that continues to shine in these dark times.
Mike Garrity is the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.
