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Lawsuit claims Forest Service project will harm whitebark pine near Yellowstone
Conservation groups challenge a 19,921-acre Forest Service project that may harm endangered whitebark pine and critical lynx and grizzly habitats, citing unproven science and regulatory violations.
- This week, plaintiffs from Gallatin Wildlife Association, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, and Jesse Logan sued the United States Forest Service in the Billings division over a logging plan north of Yellowstone National Park.
- Using 'daylight thinning', the plan relies on unproven methods, and the Forest Service removed over 25% of mapped lynx habitat, court documents say.
- The project spans 19,921 acres in Park County, including Cooke City, where most public commenters opposed logging beyond the wildland-urban interface; plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Tim Bechtold and Elizabeth Forster, and the Forest Service declines to comment.
- Their complaint seeks vacatur or re-evaluation and to halt project activities while plaintiffs say the Forest Service failed to fully disclose harm in its biological and environmental assessments.
- Ecologists warn the tree's role as a keystone species means whitebark pine, which can live more than 500 years, supports grizzly bears but faces threats from climate warming in high-elevation western U.S. and Canada.
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Lawsuit claims Forest Service project will harm whitebark pine near Yellowstone
Three organizations and an individual are suing the United States Forest Service — specifically the Gardiner District of the Custer Gallatin National Forest — for a plan they say hurts the already-endangered whitebark pine tree while ignoring lynx and grizzly…
·Missoula, United States
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