MISSOULA, Mont.— In response to a legal challenge from conservation groups, the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reconsider approval of the controversial Eastside project in the Bitterroot National Forest. The decision was announced Friday in a letter from the two agencies.

The proposed tree-cutting and burning project is in the heart of important habitat for bull trout, wolverines and grizzly bears, all of whom are protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

“This decision is much-needed good news for some of Montana’s most iconic and imperiled wildlife,” said Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Grizzly bears are slowly returning to the Bitterroot, wolverines are struggling to survive in the face of climate change, and bull trout are teetering on the edge of extirpation from the area. Instead of protecting these species, the Forest Service has been pushing this massive habitat-destroying project under the guise of forest health. It’s time to kill the Eastside project once and for all.”

The Eastside project calls for extensive tree cutting, prescribed burns and roadwork across more than 470,000 acres — almost the entire eastern side of the Bitterroot National Forest and a crucial wildlife corridor.

The Forest Service approved the project in March 2021. In January 2025 conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent to sue the agency, highlighting its failure to fully assess the project’s threats to protected species, as required under the Endangered Species Act.

“Our country is blessed with perhaps the greatest wildlife populations remaining in the world today that are deeply valued by the American people,” said Jim Miller, president of Friends of the Bitterroot. “We are disappointed that the Forest Service continues to ignore the critical importance of our threatened wildlife species when proposing projects that will destroy the habitat necessary to ensure their continual survival. While the Forest Service is entrusted to be the stewards of our national forests, conservation groups and the citizens they represent will stand at the ready to ensure that they fulfill this duty.”

“The Forest Service approved a project that spans nearly a half-million acres without ever taking a hard look at how road use was going to harm grizzly bears in the Sapphire Mountains and returning to the Bitterroot ecosystem,” said Adam Rissien, ReWilding manager with WildEarth Guardians. “Approved under what is called a ‘categorical exclusion,’ the agency was clearly pushing beyond the bounds of its authority, and we’re pleased it’s reversing course to comply with the law.”

“The east side of the Bitterroot National Forest is rich in biological diversity and beloved by hunters, hikers and many others and serves as a critical watershed fed by protecting mountain snowpack in our ever hotter and drier climate,” said Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “Citizens shouldn't have to force the Forest Service to follow the law, but we are happy that the agency agreed to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the impact of this huge project on grizzlies, bull trout and wolverines, as the Endangered Species Act requires.”

The Center and conservation partners will monitor the consultation process to ensure that agencies fully account for the project’s environmental consequences.