Castle Mountain Project
Environmentalists blasted the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of a project that involves logging, clear-cutting and burning of trees as well as the construction of a road that will harm area wildlife.
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U.S. Forest Service
Not a Peaceful Forest
The U.S. Forest Service allows motorized recreation in the Clearwater National Forest, imperiling grizzly bears, elk, bull trout and wolverines, and has never done the environmental reviews necessary to allow such recreation, conservationists say in a lawsuit.
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Feds Ask Ninth Circuit to Approve Arizona Copper Mine Plan
A Canadian mining company should be permitted to pile waste rock on U.S. Forest Service land in Arizona near a planned open-pit copper mine, attorneys for the federal agency and the company told a Ninth Circuit appeals panel Monday.
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Fight Is On to Save Critically Endangered Red Squirrel in Arizona
Forest fires and development have nearly decimated the Mt. Graham red squirrel, with only about 100 left in their “bottleneck habitat.”
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Feds Face Fresh Lawsuit to Protect Threatened Sage Grouse
Environmental groups sued the Trump administration in federal court Monday for failing to protect the endangered Gunnison sage grouse from cattle grazing across its southwestern Colorado habitat.
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Feds List Key Subalpine Pine Species as Threatened
They can survive winds of 100 miles an hour and hundreds of inches of snow, but the whitebark pine is struggling against the onslaught of a European fungal disease and climate change.
Read moreNo Hiking!
The U.S. Forest Service’s plan to build a 3-mile trail — with bridge for hikers and cattle — will disrupt the natural balance of the area, negatively impact private property owners and violate the Endangered Species Act, according to property owners who sued Wednesday.
Read moreTimber Project
A group of residents from Leadville, Colorado, failed to show the U.S. Forest Service improperly approved a 1,600-acre timber project in the Upper Fryingpan Valley, a federal court in Colorado ruled. The residents claimed the project would have a climate impact because of the biomass fuel it would generate, disruptions to the soil and emissions-producing logging trucks.
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Ninth Circuit Blocks Logging Project in Burned-Out Part of California Forest
Eight months after a federal judge green-lighted a roadside logging project to remove fire-damaged trees on 7,000 acres in Mendocino National Forest, the Ninth Circuit on Monday reversed that decision and issued a preliminary injunction to stop it.
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Judge Blasts Feds on Logging Plan in Pristine Alaska Forest
A federal judge handed a logging project proposed for the Alaskan wilderness a major setback Wednesday, finding the environmental impact studies for the project were inadequate and cannot be saved.
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High Court Green-Lights Pipeline Route Through Appalachian Trail
With a 7-2 Supreme Court reversal, Atlantic Coast Pipeline on Monday won the right to cut through the Appalachian Trail.
Read moreGrizzly Bears
Friends of the Clearwater sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court, claiming it illegally omitted the effects of a 1,719-acre logging project on grizzly bears in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.
Read moreSuit That Says Bear Baiting Harms Grizzlies Advances
A federal judge in Idaho on Thursday denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit by conservation organizations that sought to stop black-bear baiting in national forests in Idaho and Wyoming.
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Plan to Log in Spotted Owl Habitat Examined by Ninth Circuit Panel
Attorneys sparred over the government’s plan to log trees after wildfire tore through an area designated as critical habitat for spotted owls – leaving behind exactly the type of snags that the threatened birds prefer for nesting and foraging.
Read moreNational Forest
The Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court for approving logging and timber sales on 1,650 acres of Klamath National Forest, habitat for the Northern spotted owl and Pacific fisher.
Read moreEnvironment
The Yellowstone to Uintas Connection sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court, claiming the Crow Creek natural gas pipeline project through 20 miles of national forest will harm protected wildlife.
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Wolf Hunt May Have Killed 97% of Pack in Alaska Archipelago
Conservationists say this season’s unfettered wolf hunt in the Alaska’s Tongass National Forest may have left only five animals alive in the area.
Read moreEndangered Species
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court, claiming its plan to conduct prescribed burns on 10,000 acres and logging on 2,000 acres in Lewis and Clark National Forest will hurt protected grizzly bears, lynx and wolverines.
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