A federal judge ruled in favor of conservation groups this month in a decision against allowing increased road building in the Bitterroot National Forest.
Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of several environmental groups in 2024, saying federal agencies didn’t take a hard enough look at the impact this decision would have on threatened species in the Bitterroot, like grizzly bears and bull trout.
Maxine Sugarman is an associate attorney with Earth Justice’s office in Bozeman, the group that filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs.
“The Bitterroot National Forest can play this essential role of connecting habitat. But roads cause habitat fragmentation and degradation for grizzly bears. And additionally, roads and motorized use also deliver harmful sediment to streams, which can increase water temperature and make it more difficult for bull trout to survive,” Sugarman said.
The Bitterroot National Forest amended its management plan in 2023. It included changes to certain components, like elk and old-growth management, and added what’s called Amendment 40, which allowed for expanded road building and motorized access in the forest. This amendment is what led to the suit.
Last month, the plaintiffs Friends of the Bitterroot, Friends of the Clearwater, Native Ecosystems Council, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment and WildEarth Guardians won a partial victory against defendants including the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen ruled that the addition of Amendment 40 to the forest plan violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Now, Christensen’s decision effectively brings the rules in the Forest around roads and motorized use back to the status quo of its earlier management plan.