Eco-groupsto file suit

over grizzly, bull trout protections

Two environmental groups have filed a notice of intent to sue the Flathead National Forest for failing to provide Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears and bull trout.

The Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan largely are focusing on the Forest Service's failure to meet deadlines for implementing road-density standards, as required by the Flathead National Forest's long-range forest plan. The 60-day notice of intent to sue is required in cases involving the Endangered Species Act.

The forest did not meet five-year or 10-year targets for reducing road densities in grizzly bear habitat. The targets were established in 1995 by forest plan Amendment 19.

Recognizing that they would not be able to meet the targets, forest officials revised their schedule and sought approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency charged with enforcement of the Endangered Species Act.

In October, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a new biological opinion that basically approved an extended time frame for meeting the road-density standards.

Friends of the Wild Swan and the Swan View Coalition assert that the "egregious delays" in implementing Amendment 19 "cannot be cured by relying upon the arbitrary and capricious 'no jeopardy' conclusion" in the October biological opinion.

The two groups also provided notice to the Secretary of Interior, indicating that a lawsuit also could be directed at the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The groups also say the Forest Service has violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to implement guidelines established by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, a panel of state and federal land and wildlife managers assigned with recovering Western Montana's threatened grizzly bear populations.

They say the Flathead forest also has failed to properly implement Amendment 19 by allowing snowmobile access in areas where it is not allowed after April 1.

Finally, the groups allege the Forest Service has violated the Endangered Species Act by concluding that delayed implementation will not affect bull trout, which are protected as a threatened species. Reduced densities, they argue, will reduce sediment runoff into streams used by bull trout.

"The Forest Service needs to comply with the standards it found necessary for the survival of the grizzly bear and bull trout, not simply turn around and say the standards can be put off because they haven't gotten around to it yet," said Keith Hammer, chairman of the Swan View Coalition. "Somehow the Forest Service continues to find money to go logging, but says it cannot find money for legally required restoration work."

Forest officials counter that road restoration and reclamation work that has been carried out so far on the Flathead forest has been possibly only because of proceeds from timber sales.

Joe Krueger, the forest's environmental coordinator, said he cannot comment on the groups' notice of intent to sue because it has not been reviewed by legal counsel.

The groups have separate, active lawsuits against the Flathead, challenging site-specific exemptions from Amendment 19 standards that were implemented as part of several post-fire recovery projects.

Forest officials say provisions in Amendment 19 give them the discretion to deviate from road-density standards in certain situations. Those lawsuits are pending before Judge Donald Molloy in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.