ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20147
No(s). CV 23-133-M-DWM (D. Mont. Oct 23, 2025) (Molloy, J.)

A district court granted summary judgment for an environmental group in a challenge to the Forest Service's authorization of a project to eradicate rainbow trout and replace them with Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. The group argued the project, which authorized the Service to use mechanized and motorized means to apply poison to 45.5 wilderness stream miles, violated the Wilderness Act by unlawfully elevating managers' desired outcomes above the Act's mandate to preserve "wilderness character." A magistrate judge found the Service met its mandate and recommended summary judgment for the Service. The court found the judge erred by subordinating wilderness character to competing uses, that conservation of the cutthroat trout was not a valid purpose under the Act, and that the Service's failure to consider whether fish poisoning or fish stocking served the Act's mandate was arbitrary and capricious. It adopted in part, rejected in part, and modified the magistrate judge's findings and recommendations, and granted summary judgment for the group.