In a series of court cases over more than a decade, Earthjustice and our clients have worked to protect wilderness-quality lands within Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest against a rising tide of motorized and mechanized backcountry use, and from massive timber sales.
This declaratory judgment action seeks injunctive relief from the Bitterroot Travel Plan. The Bitterroot Forest lies in the Forest Service's Northern Region, or "Region l," and includes about 1.6 million acres located in west central Montana and a small portion of east central Idaho. Within the forest's boundaries are the Sapphire and Bluejoint Wilderness Study Areas and the Selway-Bitterroot and Bluejoint Recommended Wilderness Areas. Popular recreation activities in the Bitterroot include boating, fishing, hunting, gathering forest products, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, riding wheeled off highway vehicles and snowmobiling.