WINTHROP, Wash.— Conservation groups today sued the U.S. Forest Service over its approval of a sweeping logging project in Washington’s Methow Valley that would allow extensive clearcutting of mature and old-growth forests protected under the agency’s Northwest Forest Plan. The Midnight Restoration Project would also threaten critical habitat for imperiled northern spotted owls and bull trout.

“This lawsuit challenges the false narrative that we have to choose between healthy forests or safe communities,” said Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “People in the Methow Valley have lived through devastating wildfires and deserve meaningful protection, but clearcutting some of the region’s oldest and most important forests isn’t the answer. We can protect communities from wildfire while safeguarding the old forests and wildlife that make these landscapes so cherished.”

Today’s lawsuit says the Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act and National Forest Management Act when they approved the project. It was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Methow Forest Forum and Kettle Range Conservation Group.

The complaint also says the agencies authorized extensive habitat destruction despite acknowledging that the project would significantly degrade northern spotted owl habitat and harm bull trout, both protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The Midnight Project authorizes commercial and noncommercial logging across thousands of acres, including within older forest reserves established under the Northwest Forest Plan to protect old-growth trees and provide habitat for animals like the northern spotted owl. The area is one of the region’s most popular outdoor recreation corridors.

The project also authorizes logging and road work in riparian areas that support federally protected bull trout. The forest plan established these reserves to protect the remaining old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest and the wildlife who depend on them.

“Logging old growth forest, roadless areas, Late Successional Reserves and along bull trout and salmon streams is not, as the Forest Service claims, ‘increasing ecological sustainability’, it is in fact about timber volume,” said Timothy Coleman, executive director of Kettle Range Conservation Group. “Opening up a forest to the drying effects of wind, sun and drought impacts will increase wildfire risk.”

Research consistently shows that the most effective way to reduce wildfire risk is to prioritize home hardening, defensible space and carefully targeted fuel treatments near communities, rather than logging remote, mature forests.

“We worked extensively with Forest Service leadership toward legally sound, ecologically responsible fuels reduction that protects the natural assets of the Methow,” said Ric Bailey, President of the Methow Forest Forum. “Litigation is the last resort after collaboration was unproductive.”

The lawsuit asks the court to halt implementation of the project until the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service comply with federal environmental laws.