Environmental advocates this week filed a lawsuit against a proposed logging project southwest of West Yellowstone. The plaintiffs argue the project would violate Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears.
The Custer-Gallatin National Forest approved the South Plateau Area Landscape Treatment project in August. It calls for logging of up to 16,000 acres over the next 15 years, most of which would be clearcut and commercial timber harvesting.
Custer-Gallatin National Forest argues thinning out trees will mitigate the risk of wildfire and pine beetle infestation in the area. But environmental advocates argue in their lawsuit that the logging operations would fragment habitat used by grizzlies for foraging and building dens.
The plaintiffs also allege the Forest Service was negligent in its analysis of environmental impacts of the project.
The project is located in an area known as a "population sink" for grizzlies in the Yellowstone ecosystem, meaning bear deaths outnumber births. Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center, said in a statement the logging project “will make an already bad situation worse.”
The U.S. Forest Service did not immediately respond to MTPR’s request for comment.