Hungry Horse News

A lawsuit filed by two environmental groups to stop salvage logging in grizzly bear habitat could have serious implications for at least one local mill.

F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber was nearly done felling all the trees on one of its salvage sales - known as the Blackfoot North Sale.

The sale, located up the west side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir was within about two days of being completely harvested, said Stoltze general manager Ron Buentemeier.

Right now, Stoltze has about 1 million board feet of timber on the ground that can't be picked up because of a federal court ruling issued last week that, at least temporarily, halted salvage timber harvest in areas considered core grizzly bear habitat.

Stoltze has both the Blackfoot north and Blackfoot south sales. The Blackfoot north sale, for example, is 647 acres, of which 99 acres are considered core grizzly bear habitat.

The Blackfoot south sale is not in core grizzly bear habitat.

The Forest Service was hoping from some clarification last week from U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy on his ruling when he granted Friends of the Wild Swan and Swan View Coalition the temporary restraining order. Molloy ruled that timber harvest in core grizzly bear habitat should cease until the case can be argued further in a hearing July 29.

But the Forest Service attorneys have advised that any sale unit with core grizzly habitat, even if its just a fraction, should cease logging, Glacier View/Hungry Horse District Ranger Jimmy DeHerrera said.

DeHerrera said as of Tuesday, the Forest Service hadn't heard from the court.

DeHerrera said entire sales have shut down because they have as little as an acre in core grizzly habitat.

Buentemeier, meanwhile, said the company has invested time and money into building helicopter pads as well as paying loggers to cut down the timber.

Those are costs that likely can't be recouped if the court ruling stands, he noted.

All told, about 8 percent of the timber burned in the 2003 fire season is being harvested. The salvage sales are small in size and in some cases, barely recognizable.

"The ironic thing is you can look at units that are fallen and you can't tell any difference (from those that aren't)," Buentemeier said.

Environmentalists were pleased with Molloy's ruling.

"We are pleased that the judge recognized there is imminent harm to bears from helicopter logging in areas that are supposed to be secure," said Arlene Montgomery, program director of Friends of the Wild Swan. "At the hearing we can make our case that the Flathead is not complying with their own Forest Plan standards to protect grizzly bears."

They also contend the Forest Service's own biological assessment notes that logging is being allowed in areas that are supposed to be free of disturbance to bears.

"The Forest Service admits much of the timber sale area never has had adequate wildlife security due to too many motor vehicles," Swan View Coalition Chair Keith Hammer claimed. "This post-fire logging makes the situation worse, not better."

They also claim their court action was a "last resort."

"This lawsuit and temporary restraining order were a last resort that was necessary because the Forest Service refused to meet its own standards and the needs of wildlife with these projects," Montgomery said.