Conservation groups, Forest Service, argue merits and harms of Big Belts logging operation
(Photo courtesy of Pixabay | Public domain).
Conservation groups argued in federal court that a forest management project comprising 1,241 acres of timber harvest east of Helena may violate several federal statutes, but the government lawyers said rules were followed and the timber sale has economic and public interest benefits.
Three conservation groups, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council and the Council on Fish and Wildlife filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service in the U.S. District Court in Missoula against the Wood Duck Project and seek a preliminary injunction to halt work.
On Tuesday, they argued their case before Judge Dana Christensen, alleging the project violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act, that the government had failed to include data showing possible negative impact on wildlife, and that the Forest Service had ignored points of concern from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
'This is not just a procedural claim. It is a hard look at substantive environmental protections,' Rebecca Smith, counsel for the conservation groups, said during arguments on June 3.
Smith argued two species in particular would be harmed by the logging project — elk and grizzly bears — due to an increased density of temporary roads constructed.
As part of the forest management project, two companies were awarded timber sales.
One company, Sun Mountain Lumber, which was awarded 356 acres of timber sale, filed as a party to the lawsuit, claiming substantial harm if the project is halted.
Sun Mountain Lumber began its operations on the sale last fall, constructing several miles of temporary road and cutting 199 acres of lumber, according to court documents. Its operations are expected to resume around mid-June.
Judge Christensen raised the timing of the lawsuit as a potential issue to the plaintiff's claims.
'I don't understand, when we've got an (environmental assessment) that was issued in April of 2024, a contract that was awarded to Sun Mountain on September 17 of 2024, why we had to wait until logging activities are about to resume up there… and come into this court and seek temporary relief?' Christensen said. 'That concerns me.'
The Wood Duck Project is located in the Townsend Ranger District of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest in the Big Belt Mountains. The total project area is roughly 70,000 acres, of which there will be 1,241 acres of commercial logging, 15 miles of temporary road construction, 10 miles of road reconstruction and 8 miles of road reconditioning.
A portion of the temporary roads will be constructed in elk wintering grounds, according to the project plan, which the plaintiffs argue will decrease elk habitat effectiveness.
'90 to 95% of the elk in this hunting district are already being displaced from public National Forest lands because of poor (habitat) elk security. And these are areas that would otherwise provide good elk habitat if there was security,' Smith said, quoting from comments made by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks about the project. 'There is nowhere in the project (environmental assessment) that the Forest Service disclose to the public that the current status of this area is that already 90 to 95% of elk are being displaced.'
The plaintiffs also challenged the logging project on the basis of affecting grizzly bear habitat connectivity. Although there is no known population of grizzlies in the Big Belts, the area provides a possible route between grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, centered around the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, and Yellowstone National Park. The plaintiffs argued that increased road density harms that connectivity.
'(Part of the project area) already has a road density of 2.6 miles per square mile. That is far and away, a road density level that is too high for grizzly bears,' Smith said. '…It's not really possible for the Forest Service to say that it's maintaining connectivity for grizzly bears in this area.'
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Abby Nordhagen Cziok, said the plaintiffs were mischaracterizing their arguments as a 'false choice between logging, and elk and grizzly bears.'
'Really this entire case is meant to work towards vegetative desired conditions, and that means ensuring that there's health in the forest, making sure that the trees are resilient to changes in the environment, like fires, drought, disease,' Cziok said, adding that the species of concern would ultimately benefit.
In her arguments, Cziok said the plaintiffs had failed to show they would suffer irreparable harm from the logging, the last-minute timeline showed a lack of urgency, and the Forest Service's environmental assessment had correctly weighed possible harms to wildlife.
Cziok added the logging project was substantially changed during the public processes that accompany an environmental assessment, including in response to comments by FWP, cutting it from a 3,000-acre logging operation to one half that size.
'Really, the project we are considering today is not the same project that Fish, Wildlife and Parks wrote to the Forest Service about. It's a very different project,' she told the court. 'Importantly, at the beginning of that letter Fish, Wildlife and Parks said, 'We are generally in favor of this project.' That's because this project seeks to maintain a healthy, diverse forest.'
Tyson McLean, attorney for Sun Mountain Lumber, said the company has made significant investment in the Wood Duck sale, could lose up to $3 million in revenue if the sale is halted, and that the harvested lumber would support operations of the company's lumber mills for months.
At a time where lumber mills in Montana have been closing due to labor shortages and low lumber prices, timber sales like Wood Duck are essential to the remaining mills, McLean said.
'Sun Mountain employs approximately 65 people at its Livingston mill whose livelihoods would be jeopardized by the delay or cancellation of harvest activities,' he told the court. 'Sun Mountain is unable to pivot and find another viable option to replace the raw material that they are planning on or the volume of timber from the Wood Duck timber sale.'
'It's too late,' McLean said.
Smith, on behalf of the conservation groups, said at the end of arguments that because the Sun Mountain timber sale was partially completed, the plaintiffs would be open to allowing the remaining 143 acres to be logged, and would seek an injunction against the remaining timber sales.
Christensen said he would work to deliver an expedient ruling due to the impending restart of Sun Mountain's operations, but again took issue with the plaintiff's last-minute actions in the case.
'I do not like getting motions for temporary restraining orders days or weeks before a project is to recommence where logging has already taken place, when this claim could have been brought 10 months ago,' Christensen said. 'I am getting overwhelmed with requests for temporary restraining orders — overwhelmed — and every time a temporary restraining order is filed … that takes priority over everything else that I'm doing. And when I have a case where the issues could have been brought before me months ago that now has found its way into a temporary restraining order, I'm concerned.'
Two of the conservation groups were previously successful in halting a large-scale logging project near Townsend in 2024, settling a suit with the Forest Service. The settlement allowed the government to proceed with a project tens of thousands of acres smaller than originally proposed.
Wood Duck preliminary injunction brief
U.S. Forest Service opposition to motion for injunction
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