MISSOULA, Mont.— Conservation groups sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management today for approving a massive logging operation in the Garnet Mountains that would threaten important connectivity habitat for grizzly bears, Canada lynx, wolverines and bull trout. Separately, the groups also notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of their intent to sue that agency to stop the project.

The Clark Fork Face Project, located 30 minutes east of Missoula, would allow logging across 16,689 acres of BLM-managed lands — more than 70% of the agency’s holdings in the project area. It would sever vital connectivity corridors for wildlife navigating between the Northern Continental Divide, Greater Yellowstone and Bitterroot ecosystems. This habitat fragmentation would occur in a region already compromised by decades of intensive logging and mining, putting significant strain on the local ecosystem.

“The Clark Fork Face Project is yet another inexcusable example of the Bureau of Land Management prioritizing industrial logging over science-backed conservation,” said attorney Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “After decades of industrial exploitation, this region is just beginning to heal, with grizzly bears and other wildlife starting to return. Instead of encouraging restoration, the BLM is charging ahead with another logging project that will obliterate any chance these embattled species have at making a true recovery.”

Conservation groups say the project will not only harm iconic wildlife but also undermine regional efforts to maintain habitat connectivity essential for species recovery. The Garnet Range is an important connectivity corridor for Montana’s carnivores. The lawsuit says the agencies are leaving threatened and endangered species at greater risk of extinction by refusing to consider logging projects’ cumulative threats, road-related disturbances and the best-available science.

“The Garnet Range is in lynx critical habitat and in an important corridor for grizzly bears. Instead of protecting habitat for wildlife the BLM wants to destroy wildlife habitat," said Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

Today’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Montana, also says the Clark Fork Face Project fails to recognize the current condition of the project area, where impassable roads have been reclaimed by vegetation and are used by wildlife. The project’s planned reconstruction of these roads and clearcutting will destroy this recovering habitat.