Lawsuit: Admin Manufactured “Emergency” to Sidestep Endangered Species Requirements for Flathead Timber Project

Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan today sued the Trump administration over its attempt to rush through a timber project in Flathead National Forest grizzly bear and bull trout habitat under the guise of a purported “emergency.” The lawsuit challenging the West Reservoir project claims that the U.S. Forest Service illegally used emergency procedures to sidestep Endangered Species Act requirements to examine potential impacts to the federally-protected species, which could be harmed through 4.7 miles of new road construction and other project activities.

Conservation groups sent the Forest Service notice of their intent to sue in March, but the agency failed to remedy the Endangered Species Act violations.

“The Flathead fabricated an emergency in order to sidestep protections for grizzly bears and bull trout while also cutting the public out of the process,” said Arlene Montgomery, program director for Friends of the Wild Swan. “They were planning this timber sale for 3 years, no emergency here, only unlawful behavior.”

The Forest Service initiated the project in April 2023 but waited nearly three years before claiming that an “emergency” allowed the agency to skip the standard Endangered Species Act requirements to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect grizzly bears and bull trout. Despite claims of an emergency, the Forest Service has offered only a routine justification for the project — that it would purportedly “improve forest health and resilience and reduce potential wildfire impacts to important values at risk,” even though only a few recreational cabins exist anywhere near the project. Conservation groups contend that there is nothing unique about this timber sale that elevates it to emergency status and allows the Forest Service to bypass legal requirements to protect imperiled wildlife.

“The Forest Service admits the timber sale area already has too many roads for wildlife security,” said Keith Hammer, chair of Swan View Coalition. “But rather than fix that, it is faking an emergency and bypassing Endangered Species Act requirements in order to build more roads.”

In 2025, the federal government dismissed its appeal of a District Court decision limiting roadbuilding in grizzly bear and bull trout habitat in Flathead National Forest. In March 2024, the District Court found that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not lawfully examine the impacts to federally-protected grizzly bears and bull trout when the agencies greenlit their roadbuilding plan for the national forest. In June of that year, the Court recognized additional impacts to grizzlies from existing roadways, including those that don’t receive motorized use. To date, the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service have not satisfied the requirements of the Endangered Species Act to protect grizzlies and bull trout from harms caused by forest roadbuilding and logging.

“The West Reservoir project comes amidst a series of Trump administration attempts to undermine the Endangered Species Act and cast aside our nation’s most imperiled wildlife and ecosystems,” said Ben Levitan, senior attorney with Earthjustice’s Biodiversity Defense Program. “We’re committed to giving imperiled species the protections they’re guaranteed under the law, including for grizzly bears and bull trout in Flathead National Forest. Since the Forest Service failed to take any corrective action over these violations, we’ll see them in court.”

Grizzly bears have learned to avoid roads — even closed roads — and are often displaced from habitat that features them, which cuts off the bears from food, shelter, and other resources. Closed roads in the Northern Rockies also receive significant unauthorized use, including trespass by motorized vehicles. Roads and road use also increase sediment in bull trout streams, reducing survival of eggs and embryos, clogging gills, and raising water temperatures in critical habitat for these cold-water fish.

Earthjustice represents Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan.