Government Appeals Grizzly Protections in Flathead, Plaintiffs to Defend Win

Two federal agencies today announced plans to appeal a court decision that found their Flathead National Forest Plan illegal.

In March, a district court found that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) did not lawfully examine the impacts to federally protected grizzly bears and bull trout when the agencies greenlit their road building plan for the national forest. Then in June, the court recognized additional impacts to grizzlies from existing roadways, including even those that don’t receive motorized use. Those agencies are today appealing the court’s June decision which modified the March ruling.

Earthjustice challenged the Flathead National Forest Plan on behalf of Friends of the Wild Swan and Swan View Coalition.

“The Forest Service and United States Fish and Wildlife Service created a plan that would allow them to unleash a new wave of road-building in prime grizzly habitat, and a judge rightfully found that approach illegal,” said Ben Scrimshaw, Earthjustice attorney. “Grizzlies are making progress toward recovery, but they need undisturbed habitat to stay on that course. We stand ready to defend our victory.”

“The District Court found the federal agencies were not counting all the roads that still harm bears and bull trout so they could get away with building more harmful roads,” said Keith Hammer, Chair of Swan View Coalition. “We are glad to have Earthjustice defending this important win for wildlife.”

“Roads harm bears, bull trout and their habitat,” said Arlene Montgomery of Friends of the Wild Swan. “The Court was correct finding the Flathead and Fish and Wildlife Service at fault, they should be prioritizing removing roads, not building new ones.”

Background:

In 2019, conservation groups first challenged the 2018 revised Flathead National Forest Plan, the accompanying Environmental Impact Statement, and the FWS biological opinion in the U.S. District Court in Montana. The court ruled that the agencies’ analysis of impacts to grizzly bears and bull trout violated the Endangered Species Act, particularly in its arbitrary abandonment of the prior forest plan amendment the agencies credited with conserving the species. In response to the 2019 challenge, FWS made a series of minor but inadequate revisions to its biological opinion, which led conservation groups to sue again in 2022.

Grizzly bears have learned to avoid roads — even closed roads — and are often displaced from habitat that features them.