[MCN] Massive Kootenai National Forest timber sale challenged by conservation groups

[Matthew Koehler]

For Release: Tuesday, May 17, 2022


*Massive Kootenai National Forest timber sale challenged by conservation
groups*
Knotty Pine Project expected to harm fragile Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear
population

*Contacts:*
Kristine Akland, Center for Biological Diversity, (406) 544-9863,
kakland at biologicaldiversity.org
Adam Rissien, WildEarth Guardians, (406) 370-3147,
arissien at wildearthguardians.org
Michael Garrity, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, (406) 459-5936
wildrockies at gmail.com


MISSOULA, MONTANA—Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service today
<https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Knotty-Pine-Complaint.pdf> to
stop a large timber sale in the Kootenai National Forest that threatens a
small and imperiled population of grizzly bears near the Montana-Canada
border. The groups notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of their
intent to sue it, as well.

The Knotty Pine Project authorizes the logging of more than 5,000 acres
with massive clearcuts — at least one the size of 170 football fields — and
allows for more than 45 miles of roads to be constructed or rebuilt in
crucial grizzly bear habitat. In approving the timber sale, the Forest
Service failed to disclose the damaging impacts of logging and new roads on
the struggling and isolated grizzly bear population.

“Roads and clearcutting are some of the biggest threats to this extremely
fragile population of grizzly bears,” said Kristine Akland, Northern
Rockies attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Not only did the
agencies completely ignore the very real effects of illegal and
unauthorized roads on grizzly bears, but they also failed to consider how
opening more than 45 miles of roads in grizzly bear habitat will further
harm this threatened population.”

“The Knotty Pine proposal is yet one more in a linked series of giant
logging projects that would replace cool, wet forests with hot, dry
clearcuts. We want to keep our water in the Yaak,” said Rick Bass, interim
director of the Yaak Valley Forest Council.


A 2021 Fish and Wildlife Service report
<https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/DownloadFile/196991> concluded that the
Cabinet-Yaak population of grizzlies, which probably numbers fewer than 50
bears, is the most vulnerable of the four grizzly populations in the lower
48 due to its very low population numbers, low genetic diversity and low
reproduction rates.

“We will not stand idly by and watch the federal government drive this
imperiled grizzly population into extinction by bulldozing more logging
roads and clearcutting more grizzly bear habitat for the sake of
shortsighted, private, for-profit logging operations,” said Mike Garrity,
executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

“The Forest Service is simply wrong that logging, including huge clearcuts,
will restore wildlife habitat or keep people safe from wildfire, as the
agency implies,” said Adam Rissien with WildEarth Guardians. “Managers
cannot replace mother nature with a chainsaw, and the best way to protect
communities from fire is to focus work around homes, not log big trees
miles away.”

Grizzly bears need large areas of road-free forest to survive and raise
cubs. The complaint and notice of intent that were filed today point out
that the Knotty Pine Project fails to meet the Forest Service’s own
requirements limiting motor-vehicle access designed to protect grizzly
bears, significantly reducing the amount of secure habitat available to the
beleaguered animals.

“The most recent minimum population estimate for this population is 45
bears, but the Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan requires a minimum of 100 bears
for a viable population. And the Forest Service wants to build even more
logging roads in the imperiled Cabinet-Yaak grizzly habitat even though
they know that most bears are killed within 500 meters of roads. This is
insane,” said Sara Johnson, director of Native Ecosystems Council.

The Knotty Pine Project is one of several large logging projects proposed
or authorized in the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery zone.

A copy of the lawsuit is available here:
https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Knotty-Pine-Complaint.pdf
https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/Knotty-Pine-Complaint.pdf


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