U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Environmental groups sued the Kootenai National Forest today, June 30, over its approval of a controversial logging project in Northwest Montana.

The Kootenai National Forest finalized a contentious logging project on Tuesday after a court-ordered evaluation found that the Black Ram project won’t severely impact grizzly bears and other threatened species. But environmental groups are pushing back against that finding.

Conservation groups are suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its assessment of the Flathead National Forest’s road-building policy in grizzly bear and bull trout habitat.

Wolverines will receive protections while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers listing them under the Endangered Species Act.

The nearly 5,000-acre Knotty Pine project would include roughly 3,000 acres of commercial logging as well 40 miles of road maintenance and road building. WildEarth Guardians in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Missoula argue that work will harm the local grizzly bear population.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes recently reclaimed management of the land that made up the National Bison Range in northwest Montana. As the tribes resume their care of the land, they’re correcting inaccuracies at the Bison Range’s visitor center to better reflect their language and history in bison conservation.

U.S. wildlife officials have agreed to craft a new habitat plan for the snow-loving Canada lynx that could include more land in Colorado and other western states where the rare animals would be protected, according to a legal agreement made public Tuesday.

Advocacy groups are asking the federal government to issue emergency protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, the only gray wolf population not on the Endangered Species List.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon filed a petition this week to remove federal protections on grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The meltwater lednian and western glacier stoneflies require cold flowing water from glaciers or snowfields to survive. Scientists predict those cold-water sources could be gone by 2030 due to climate change.