Conservation groups challenge timber sale

Four conservation groups filed suit in Federal District Court in Missoula Dec. 16, challenging a large logging and fuels-reduction project near Condon in the Flathead National Forest.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, along with the Swan View Coalition, Friends of the Wild Swan and Native Ecosystems Council, stated in a Monday press release that forest officials failed to properly weigh the logging project’s impacts on habitat for threatened and endangered species.

“We have tried to work with the Forest Service on this project throughout its development, but the agency refuses to follow the law and the best available science,” Michael Garrity, the alliance’s executive director, stated in the release. “... We have no other choice if we want to conserve the last best habitat for the abundance of large and small native wildlife that Montanans hold dear.”

The forest gave final approval to the project in September. The Cold Jim Fuels Reduction and Forest Health Project includes approximately 740 acres of commercial harvest and 366 acres of pre-commercial thinning.

It also calls for the construction of 3.1 miles of temporary road, decommissioning of 1.9 miles of road and restoration of about 50 acres of drained wetlands.