Forest gets rare assist from court

Inter Lake editorial

The Flathead National Forest has prevailed in a consequential lawsuit, with a federal judge rightly affirming that forest managers have some discretion in applying road density standards that were adopted in 1995.

The forest has faced repeated litigation from local environmental groups seeking a strict application of the standards that were adopted through Forest Plan Amendment 19. But it has become increasingly obvious that there is a lot more to overall grizzly bear conservation efforts than restricting, reclaiming or closing roads.

And U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said as much in his ruling last week, and acknowledged that forest managers have to consider many other factors besides Amendment 19.

Those considerations prompted the Flathead Forest to deviate from the formulaic standards for open roads, total roads and "core" roadless habitat in developing timber salvage projects on areas burned by wildfires in 2003. Those deviations prompted the lawsuit.

It is unrealistic not to expect some serious conflicts when strictly applying road density standards on the landscape. The deviations were necessary to maintain roads that were deemed important routes for management purposes, public recreation and access to private property.

A strict application of the standards would not work to meet other management goals.

And importantly, Molloy noted that road closures and reclamation that met or nearly met the road density standards only occurred because the salvage projects proceeded.

The science behind Amendment 19 - a grizzly bear study that was conducted in the South Fork Flathead drainage in the early 1990s - is gradually fading as the "best available science" that has to be considered by land and wildlife managers.

It is being eclipsed by new research that has been strongly supported by the Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition to pursuing the application of Amendment 19, those agencies are now considering recent grizzly bear population research, satellite tracking of collared bears and other information as they pursue forest management projects and policies.

That's how it should be. The Flathead Forest's next long-range forest plan should acknowledge new information and not be tethered to science and standards that may well be outdated.