Montana Logging Project Stopped as Forest Service Edits Approval

A Kootenai National Forest logging project will remain on hold as the US Forest Service follows a court order to address deficiencies in the environmental study regarding the timber cut’s impacts on grizzly bears.

The US District Court for the District of Montana enjoined the Knotty Pine Project Monday after ruling the agency unlawfully excluded illegal vehicle traffic from its road density calculations as the assumption this activity wouldn’t harm the threatened grizzly bear “fails to err on the side of the bear.”

After Judge Dana L. Christensen granted partial summary judgment to environmental groups last month, the Forest Service ...