Forest Service Defeats Challenge to Montana Logging Project

The US Forest Service prevailed in environmentalists’ legal challenge to a Montana logging project.

A magistrate judge in September recommended that the US District Court for the District of Montana grant summary judgment in favor of the US Forest Service. US District Judge Dana Christensen on Thursday adopted that recommendation.

Alliance for the Wild Rockies and four other groups sued the Forest Service in 2024, challenging the Mud Creek Vegetation Management Project in the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana.

The project was intended to reduce wildfire risk, but the Alliance said it threatens endangered species, and the agency failed to ...