Logging Project Near Yellowstone Unlawfully Approved, Suit Says

Environmental groups sued the US Forest Service alleging the agency unlawfully approved a logging project near Yellowstone National Park without adequately analyzing how tree cutting would impact threatened species.

Jesse Logan, a former USFS scientist, and three environmental organizations alleged the Cooke City Fuels and Forest Health Project was approved despite “substantial uncertainty” that the vegetation treatment method would effectively help the whitepark pine tree species recover, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Montana.

The project authorizes logging and tree-cutting activities on about 3,200 acres in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, including ...