Two conservation groups have filed a civil lawsuit to force the federal Bureau of Land Management to remove the fences and water developments installed for cattle in the Iron Mask Acquisition area of the Elkhorn Mountains near Townsend.
The lawsuit, filed this month in U.S. District Court in Billings by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council, also calls for the removal of other range developments and for the BLM to pay the plaintiffs their costs. The lawsuit names John Mehlhoff, the state director for the Montana-Dakotas BLM, and the BLM as defendants.
John Mehlhoff
The plaintiffs say the changes to the area are âarbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretionâ and violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act. They have sued the BLM twice before over issues regarding Iron Mask.
Associated Press
Boise, Idaho Conservation groups have sued to stop a U.S. Forest Service project west of Yellowstone National Park the agency said is needed to maintain wildlife biodiversity with prescribed burning and logging.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and two other environmental groups said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court that the Forest Service violated environmental laws in approving the eastern Idaho project last summer.
The project involves logging, prescribed burning and riparian improvements on about 66 square miles (170 square kilometers) of forest in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
The project is in “the watershed for the world-famous Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, and will harm grizzly bears, and log much of the remaining old-growth forest left in the Targhee National Forest,” Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said in a statement. “And that’s why we are taking them to court
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Lawsuit seeks to stop Idaho forest project near Yellowstone
by Keith Ridler, The Associated Press
Posted Dec 17, 2020 4:16 pm EDT
Last Updated Dec 17, 2020 at 4:26 pm EDT
BOISE, Idaho Conservation groups have sued to stop a U.S. Forest Service project west of Yellowstone National Park the agency said is needed to maintain wildlife biodiversity with prescribed burning and logging.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and two other environmental groups said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court that the Forest Service violated environmental laws in approving the eastern Idaho project last summer.
The project involves logging, prescribed burning and riparian improvements on about 66 square miles (170 square kilometres) of forest in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
Keith Ridler December 17, 2020 - 1:16 PM
BOISE, Idaho - Conservation groups have sued to stop a U.S. Forest Service project west of Yellowstone National Park the agency said is needed to maintain wildlife biodiversity with prescribed burning and logging.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and two other environmental groups said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court that the Forest Service violated environmental laws in approving the eastern Idaho project last summer.
The project involves logging, prescribed burning and riparian improvements on about 66 square miles (170 square kilometres) of forest in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho.