[MCN] RELEASE > Conservationists Seek to Restore Protections for Imperiled Wildlife in Flathead National Forest

[Matthew Koehler]

*For Release:* August 6, 2020


*Conservationists to Federal Agencies: Restore Protections for Imperiled
Wildlife in the Flathead National Forest*

*Flathead Forest Plan favors resource extraction over grizzly bears, Canada
lynx, wolverine, and bull trout*



MISSOULA, MT—Four conservation groups have filed their opening salvos
<http://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Brief-in-Support-of-Motion-for-SJ.pdf>
in
a lawsuit to require the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to restore proven safeguards for the protection and recovery of
imperiled grizzly bears, Canada lynx, wolverine, and bull trout on the
Flathead National Forest in northwest Montana.



WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Swan View Coalition, and
Friends of the Wild Swan charge that the recently revised Forest Plan for
the Flathead National Forest violates the Endangered Species Act and
National Environmental Policy Act by favoring destructive activities such
as logging, grazing, road building, and motorized use over protection and
restoration of these species and their habitats.

“The Flathead National Forest plays an essential role in the long-term
recovery of grizzly bears and other imperiled species,” explained Adam
Rissien, ReWilding Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “In its recent
decision overturning the de-listing of the Yellowstone grizzly bear
population, the Ninth Circuit recognized the importance of inter-population
connectivity and genetic exchange to ensure the grizzly bear’s long-term
health and recovery. The Flathead’s revised Forest Plan fails to ensure
this connectivity and thus threatens grizzly bear recovery as well as other
species such as threatened bull trout and lynx.”



The revised Forest Plan is critical because it will govern all future
activities on the 2.4 million-acre Flathead National Forest for the next 15
years or more. As part of the “Crown of the Continent,” the Flathead is a
haven of rugged mountain peaks, rich, thick forests, and cool, clean
mountain streams, with some of the last remaining intact wilderness and
free-flowing rivers on the continent. Outside of protected wilderness,
however, this national forest suffers from a long history of unsustainable
logging, an excessive road system, and motorized use, including ATVs and
snowmobiles, that harm and harass wildlife, fragment fish and wildlife
habitat, and degrade sensitive riparian areas and water quality.



"The agencies’ conclusions that the revised Forest Plan will not jeopardize
grizzly bears and other imperiled species are contrary to science and will
undoubtedly put endangered species at risk of extinction,” said Jocelyn
Leroux, Washington and Montana Director for Western Watersheds Project. “Rather
than provide for robust and diverse ecosystems, the Plan prioritizes
destructive special interests."



The Flathead National Forest’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, along with
neighboring Glacier National Park, are the core of the Northern Continental
Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) grizzly bear recovery area, which contains the
largest grizzly population in the lower 48 states. The top grizzly bear
scientists emphasize the importance of linkage areas that connect the NCDE
to other isolated recovery areas such as the Bitterroot range to the
Southwest, the Greater Yellowstone to the South, and the
Cabinet-Yaak-Selkirk to the West. Notably, these same linkage areas are
important for other imperiled species such as lynx, and contain important
bull trout habitat. The lawsuit’s main thrust is the impacts that the
revised Forest Plan’s authorization of increased road building and
motorized use will have on these key migration corridors.



“The old Forest Plan had strict limits on how many logging roads and
culverts could exist in grizzly bear and bull trout habitat and a program
for removing a lot of them,” said Swan View Coalition Chair Keith Hammer.
“The revised Forest Plan has no limits and the Flathead National Forest is
now busy building more roads with more culverts. It’s a disaster in the
making.”



"The Flathead is a stronghold for bull trout whose strict habitat
requirements of cold, clean water with little fine sediment make them an
excellent indicator of water quality," said Arlene Montgomery, Program
Director for Friends of the Wild Swan. "The previous Forest Plan required
culverts be removed before roads are closed because they can clog up and
wash out the roadbed dumping tons of sediment into streams. The revised
Plan eliminated this important standard and will lead to degraded habitat
for native fish. This is unacceptable.”



The conservation groups are represented by attorneys with WildEarth
Guardians, the Western Environmental Law Center, and Earthjustice.

Brief in support of motion for summary judgement:
http://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Brief-in-Support-of-Motion-for-SJ.pdf

Joint motion for summary judgement:
https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Joint-Motion-for-SJ.pdf



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