ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20158
No(s). CV 22-91-M-DLC (D. Mont. Nov 24, 2025) (Christensen, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of a logging project in Kootenai National Forest. The groups argued the EA failed to take a "hard look" at effects to grizzly bears, that the EA violated NEPA and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) because it failed to demonstrate forest plan compliance, that the Forest Service and FWS must reinitiate consultation on the forest plan because the take limit had been exceeded, that the amended biological opinion (BiOp) and biological assessment (BA) violated the ESA, and that the Services must reinitiate consultation on the Forest Service's "access amendment," which established motor vehicle restrictions in certain areas to conserve and contribute to recovery of grizzly bears. The court found the amended BiOp's continued failure to include illegal road use in its calculations of road densities violated the ESA, that the Service violated NEPA by excluding unauthorized road use from density and core calculations, and that the Service's interpretation of the forest plan requirements was "plainly inconsistent" with the regulation at issue; but that the BA thoroughly considered precommercial thinning under the ESA and that the Service sufficiently analyzed cumulative impacts. It granted summary judgment for the groups insofar as the Services violated NEPA for not taking a hard look at effects of unauthorized road use, violated NFMA and NEPA by not complying with the access amendment and the forest plan, and violated the ESA by failing to account for unauthorized road use in density and core calculations; and granted summary judgment for the Services on all other claims. It remanded to the Services for further review and enjoined the project while the ESA consultation and renewed NEPA and NFMA review are undertaken.