The Ninth Circuit today upheld the Flathead National Forest’s Revised Forest Plan, allowing forest management projects that were developed under the new plan to proceed. The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) and the Montana Logging Association participated in the litigation as Intervenors in support of the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. AFRC General Counsel, Sara Ghafouri, argued on the behalf of the Intervenors at a Ninth Circuit hearing in Seattle in May.
“We are pleased with the Ninth Circuit’s decision on the Revised Forest Plan,” Ghafouri said. “This gives our public lands managers the certainty they need to develop and implement projects that are needed to reduce the risks of severe wildfire and to improve the health and resiliency of forests. It also provides certainty to Montana’s forest sector that supports jobs in our rural communities and will perform much of the work to help the Forest Service meet its management and conservation goals.”
Anti-forestry groups argued on appeal that the Revised Forest Plan violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for failing to take a hard look at impacts to the grizzly bear and bull trout and that the 2017 Biological Opinion (BiOp) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for failing to consider specific impacts from the Revised Plan’s road management framework on the grizzly bear. Despite anti-forestry groups’ concerns, the grizzly bear population has been significantly improving. Recent data has shown that grizzly bear population in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem has grown to more than 1,00 bears and continues to grow at a rate of two percent annually.
After a federal district court judge remanded the 2017 BiOp, because the court found some errors with respect the agency’s analysis of potential impacts to grizzlies and bull trout, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service issued a new Biological Opinion in 2022 to account for potential impacts.
The Ninth Circuit determined that the anti-forestry groups’ challenge to the 2017 BiOp in this case was now moot because a new BiOp had been issued, and also separately found that the Forest Service had fulfilled its requirement under NEPA by adequately considering the impacts of its revised road management framework on grizzly bears and bull trout.
“The Revised Forest Plan was the result of a six-year process that adopts new standards to benefit grizzlies,” Ghafouri said. “With this ruling, the Flathead National Forest can proceed to manage these landscapes so they can continue to provide multiple benefits, including recreation, clean air and water, quality wildlife habitat, and timber for carbon-storing wood products.”