Local and national wildlife conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging federal agencies’ plans to allow increased road building in the Bitterroot National Forest that would cause harm to grizzly bears and bull trout, both of which are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit charges that the Forest Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service are violating the Endangered Species Act by eliminating road density limitations in its Bitterroot Forest Plan Amendments. Earthjustice filed the suit on behalf of Friends of the Bitterroot, Friends of the Clearwater, Native Ecosystems Council, and WildEarth Guardians.

“Roads displace grizzly bears and degrade bull trout streams” said Ben Scrimshaw, Earthjustice attorney. “The Bitterroot provides crucial connective habitat between grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and the isolated Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, so allowing for limitless road building and motorized use through this area is a huge step backward in the quest for recovery.”

“Grizzly bears need large, secure and connected landscapes in order to recover and truly thrive in the Northern Rockies,” said Adam Rissien, ReWilding Manager with WildEarth Guardians. “For this reason, we’re going to court to protect these safeguards that preserve essential wildlife habitat.”

“Allowing an increase in the number of roads on the Bitterroot National Forest will further diminish the wild character of the forest, fragment wildlife habitat, and irreparably harm existing ecosystems,” said Jim Miller, President, Friends of the Bitterroot. “Extensive human intrusions into the forest have already done enough damage and the Forest Service cannot adequately maintain the existing road system. It is time to recognize the forest is a classroom and not a place to satisfy human wants and desires.”

“With continuing increases of human developments and land uses in our region, our public lands are a last refuge for rare and vulnerable native fish and animal populations,” said Jeff Juel, Forest Policy Director for Friends of the Clearwater. “If we truly value our wild neighbors, we must share with them by prioritizing habitat protection, not our own convenience.”

Background:

The Bitterroot National Forest encompasses more than 1.5 million acres of public land in west-central Montana and east-central Idaho. The forest increasingly serves as a connectivity area for grizzly bears as they begin to re-populate the Bitterroot Mountains and provides important bull trout habitat. Currently, the federal government does not yet recognize any grizzly bear populations in the Bitterroot Recovery Zone, which is one of six Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1993, though individuals have been verified on its borders.

Previously, the 1987 Management Plan for the Bitterroot National Forest protected grizzly bear and bull trout habitat by carefully managing roads and motor-vehicle recreation. Roads and associated motorized use displace grizzly bears from their habitat and increase the risk of grizzly bear mortalities. Roads and road use also deliver harmful sedimentation to bull trout streams.

In September 2023, the Forest Service adopted changes to the 1987 Plan which eliminated prior protective restrictions on roads and motorized use without adequately considering resulting displacement impacts on grizzly bears and sedimentation impacts on bull trout.