[MCN] Lawsuit seeks to protect crucial grizzly habitat in Montana’s oldest forests

[Matthew Koehler]

For Release: Thursday, June 30, 2022





*Lawsuit seeks to protect crucial grizzly habitat in Montana’s oldest
forests*





*Massive logging plan conflicts with Biden’s goal to save carbon-storing
trees*




*CONTACTS:*Sarah McMillan, WildEarth Guardians, (406) 549-3895,
smcmillan at wildearthguardians.org
Randi Spivak, Center for Biological Diversity, (310) 779-4894,
rspivak at biologicaldiversity.org

Rick Bass, Yaak Valley Forest Council, (406) 291-5338, rickbass27 at gmail.com


MISSOULA, MONTANA—Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service
<https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Black-Ram.pdf> today to
challenge its approval of a massive logging project that would clearcut
thousands of acres and log mature and old-growth forest in the Kootenai
National Forest in northwestern Montana.



Today’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, says the logging
and road construction would threaten an imperiled population of grizzly
bears on the Montana-Canada border and release significant amounts of
carbon into the atmosphere.



“Allowing huge, old trees and crucial grizzly habitat to be destroyed is
reckless and incredibly short-sighted,” said Randi Spivak, public lands
director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This massive logging
project defies President Biden’s executive order aimed at protecting old
trees. We need these magnificent carbon-storing forests to help fight
climate change and we’ll do everything possible to save them.”



The Black Ram project <https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=52784> will
allow nearly 4,000 acres of the Kootenai National Forest to be commercially
logged, including clearcutting more than 1,700 acres and logging hundreds
of acres of centuries-old trees. These rare, old forests are champions of
carbon storage, which reduces harms from climate change.



“For decades the Kootenai National Forest has been clearcutting our oldest,
largest trees,” said Rick Bass, chair of the Yaak Valley Forest Council.
“The proposed Black Ram sale is climate treason. The Department of
Agriculture and Forest Service are deliberately undercutting the Biden
administration’s commitment to battling climate change.”



The Forest Service approved the project June 21. The plan undermines
Biden’s April executive order
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/04/22/executive-order-on-strengthening-the-nations-forests-communities-and-local-economies/>
aimed
at protecting mature and old-growth trees, as well as the administration’s
claim that it wants to protect 30%
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/20/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-celebrates-expansion-of-locally-led-conservation-efforts-in-first-year-of-america-the-beautiful-initiative/>
of
our lands and waters by 2030.



“In the midst of dual climate and biodiversity crises, the decision to move
forward with this Trump-era project to clearcut mature forest stands and
build roads into this wild gem tucked away in the northwestern corner of
Montana is not merely farcical but actually tragic,” said Sarah McMillan,
senior adviser at WildEarth Guardians. “What the Forest Service seeks to do
here, in essential habitat for imperiled species such as Canada lynx,
wolverine, wolves, and an at-risk population of about 25 bears, is akin to
crushing sapphires to make concrete.”



The groups also issued a notice of intent
<https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/60-day-NOI-Black-Ram.pdf>
today
to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying its approval of the
project violates the Endangered Species Act. The agency has 60 days to
respond to the notice. (NOI Exhibits here
<https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/EXHIBITS1-4.pdf>)

Clearcutting and other forms of logging and bulldozing logging roads will
destroy habitat for a largely isolated, fragile population of about 25 grizzly
bears
<https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/grizzly_bear/index.html>
in
the Yaak Valley. Constant truck traffic will expose bears to increased
human conflict and death. The Forest Service concluded, and the Fish and
Wildlife Service agreed, that the project will “likely adversely affect”
the bears, which are struggling to survive in the area.



Logging in the Black Ram project area is expected to continue for a decade.



Many other mature and old-growth federal forests are at risk from proposed
commercial logging projects. They include logging old forests on the Wild
and Scenic Salmon River in northern California
<https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=54255>, cutting down more than
8,500 acres of mature forests in Vermont’s only national forest
<https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=60192> and logging old ponderosa
pines across 30,000 acres in the Kaibab National Forest
<https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=44236> north of the Grand Canyon.



*Background*

The 2.2 million-acre Kootenai National Forest includes the state’s lowest
elevation along the Yaak River and reaches to the 7,700-foot Norwest Peak
in the Purcell Range of northwest Montana. More than 190 species of birds
and many other native animals, including wolves, Canada lynx, wolverines,
mountain goats, bighorn sheep and black bears, roam the forest.



Mature and old-growth trees absorb and store significant amounts of carbon.
Trees pull carbon pollution in the form of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and convert and store it as carbon in their trunks, branches,
leaves and roots. Trees continue to absorb and store carbon as they grow
and age.



Logging, transportation and manufacturing release most of trees’ stored
carbon over a short period of time. Ecologically impoverished tree
plantations take centuries to recover the lost carbon and wildlife habitat
provided by older forests.




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