Several environmental groups have urged the Ninth Circuit to uphold a Montana federal judge’s decision halting a large logging operation in the Kootenai National Forest over concerns about the project’s effect on grizzly bears and old-growth trees.
The green groups argued Friday in separate briefs that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service erred in backing the Black Ram Project in the Kootenai National Forest, saying the logging project would significantly harm a small grizzly bear population in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem in northwestern Montana and northeastern Idaho.
The federal government has violated the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act with its faulty analysis of the logging project, according to the brief from the Center for Biological Diversity, Yaak Valley Forest Council, and WildEarth Guardians.
“Contrary to the agencies’ assertions, they relied on stale population data and disregarded the documented decrease in the minimum number of grizzlies detected and the simultaneous increase in bear mortalities over the past several years,” the brief said. “The agencies failed to provide an accurate baseline for assessing project impacts, as mandated by the ESA’s ‘best available science’ requirement, and mistakenly concluded that the project would not jeopardize grizzly bear conservation.”
