A federal judge halted a logging project in northwest Montana on Monday. The court says federal officials didn’t properly evaluate whether the project would harm threatened grizzly bears and Canada lynx.
The Ripley Project on the Kootenai National Forest near Libby would include roughly 11,000 acres of commercial logging and allow for the construction of nearly 20 miles of new roads.
Alliance for the Wild Rockies sued the U.S. Forest Service over the project, saying the project would harm threatened grizzly bears and Canada lynx.
Montana District Court Judge Dana Christensen ruled that the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly analyze how the logging project could harm those species, violating the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws.
Christensen ordered the agencies to reassess the project’s impact in accordance with the law.
The Forest Service declined to comment on the ruling.
