Forest roads lead to court action
Two environmental groups have sued the federal government over a U.S. Forest Service road management plan, saying it will do little to help grizzly bears avoid extinction in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk recovery areas.
Two environmental groups have sued the federal government over a U.S. Forest Service road management plan, saying it will do little to help grizzly bears avoid extinction in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk recovery areas.
But the Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contend the recently enacted road management plans will make a difference providing more secure habitat for grizzly bears.
The Missoula-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Lands Council of Spokane joined in a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Missoula.
The lawsuit alleges the new road management strategy on the Kootenai, Lolo and Idaho Panhandle national forests does not go far enough in closing or reclaiming forest roads to protect bears.
"Grizzly bears are dying each year as these small populations struggle for survival," said Marc Fink of the Western Environmental Law Center. "The agencies must stop delaying and avoiding the tough choices that are necessary to allow these bears to recover."
The groups say the government has adopted a "status quo" approach that "is a dead-end road to grizzly bear extinction."
Wayne Johnson, wildlife biologist on the Kootenai National Forest, disagrees.
"The access amendment provides a net benefit to bears by providing more secure habitat," he said.
The plaintiffs contend bears are threatened by a "mammoth network" of roads.
"The science clearly shows that roads harm grizzly bears, and we know there are over 26,000 miles of logging roads on these national forests," said Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.
Johnson said it is true that the forests have that many miles of road, "but only 8,100 of those miles are within the recovery zone" for grizzly bears.
The plaintiffs contend that less than 1/10th of one percent of roads on the forests will be closed and obliterated, but that's a number that applies to all roads.
"What you have to realize is that 62 percent of the roads in the recovery zone are already restricted or not drivable," Johnson said.
The main component of the new road management standards, he added, will convert 540 miles of currently usable roads - some that are closed seasonally or year-round - to a "non-drivable status" over the next 10 years.
Roads that are restricted by yearlong or seasonal gate closures will be reduced from 1,897 miles to 1,425 miles.
"What's significant is that about 7 percent of [the 8,100 miles of roads inside the recovery areas] will go from being open or restricted to not drivable," Johnson said.
Forest Service road closures and road obliteration have been highly controversial in Northwest Montana, with critics doubting that high road densities impact bear populations.
Prevailing research, however, shows that bears show a preference for using unroaded areas, where they are less susceptible to human-caused mortalities.
The standards adopted by the three forests attempted to incorporate flexibility that would allow for temporary access into parts of the forest for timber sales and other management activities.
"They chose this particular alternative to retain management flexibility," said Liz Sedler, a consultant for Alliance for the Wild Rockies. "And the problem was that the real biological issue here is that they are constantly displacing bears."
Forest Service officials insist that as the new standards are implemented, habitat security will improve for bears.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has concurred with the Forest Service and the Northern Regional forester recently upheld that approach in rejecting three appeals.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com