MISSOULA, Mont.— A federal court ruled today that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service broke multiple environmental laws in approving the Knotty Pine logging project in the Kootenai National Forest. The proposed project is deep in the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery zone of northwest Montana.
“This decision is a critical win for the Cabinet-Yaak’s struggling grizzly bears,” said Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “For decades federal agencies have turned a blind eye while roads carved up bear country, and grizzly bears have paid the price. The court’s ruling sends a clear message that the government can’t ignore facts or the law when it comes to protecting grizzlies.”
In a detailed 40-page decision, U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen found that both agencies unlawfully ignored the harms of illegal motorized road use on threatened grizzly bears — a long-standing problem across the Kootenai National Forest. The ruling held that the agencies’ analyses under the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act and National Forest Management Act excluded known unauthorized road use from key habitat and road-density calculations.
The Knotty Pine Project authorized logging, burning and new road construction across more than 7,000 acres of the Yaak Valley. The court ordered the agencies to revisit their analyses and ensure they comply with the Kootenai National Forest land management plan and its access amendment. The amendment sets strict limits on road density and requires meaningful accounting of illegal motorized use.
“The Forest Service has tried to paper over the problem of illegal road use for decades,” said Michael Garrity, executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “The court made clear that the agency can’t pretend those roads don’t exist, and that the science and the law both require real accountability for protecting grizzly bears.”
The Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear population — one of six recovery zones in the lower 48 states — is among the most imperiled, with only about 50 bears remaining. Decades of logging, road building and motorized recreation have fragmented its habitat and limited recovery.
"For too long the Forest Service has ignored illegal off-road vehicle use, the presence of unauthorized roads and the harm they inflict on grizzly bears," said Adam Rissien, rewilding manager with WildEarth Guardians. "This ruling affirms that the Forest Service must account for illegal road use, including on 'zombie roads,' which the agency pretends don’t exist until they come back to life for logging projects."
"These projects on the Kootenai require significant capacity from our field crew, but we’re grateful that our citizen oversight was successful in protecting Yaak grizzlies and other components of a healthy ecosystem, utilizing the best available science," said Rick Bass of the Yaak Valley Forest Council. "We’re grateful also to the attorneys who brought forth our case."
Today’s ruling stems from a 2022 lawsuit conservation groups filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula to challenge the agencies’ failure to analyze the damages that logging and road use authorized by the project would do to the struggling, isolated grizzly population. In 2023 the judge halted logging and road construction pending a ruling on the merits of the case.
