A 9,000-acre logging project near Whitefish is on hold after a federal judge in Missoula ruled that the U.S. Forest Service failed to properly account for potential impacts to lynx habitat.

Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, Council on Wildlife and Fish, and Yellowstone to Uintas Connection filed the lawsuit in January 2025, alleging the Forest Service violated endangered species protections for lynx and grizzly bears when it approved the Round Star Project. 

The project includes 2,827 acres of noncommercial treatments and 6,324 acres of commercial treatments in the Tally Lake Ranger District, about 13 miles west of Whitefish.  

About 6,300 acres slated for treatment are designated as core habitat for lynx and grizzly bears. Both species are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

In a summary judgement filed March 31, Magistrate Judge Kathleen DeSoto ruled that the Forest Service violated national provisions aimed at protecting lynx and remanded the issue to the federal agency for correction.  

Key in the finding was the Forest Service's characterization of the project area as part of the wildland urban interface. The designation allows the agency to forgo some of the typical land management provisions aimed at protecting critical lynx habitat.  

But DeSoto found that the Forest Service referenced contradictory definitions of the wildland urban interface in project planning documents, making it impossible to determine whether the exemption had been properly applied.  

“At best, the U.S. Forest Service’s references to [the] wildland urban interface boundary in the administrative record are confusing and ambiguous ... At worst, the agency relied on the [2020 Flathead County Community Wildfire Protection Plan] and a wildland urban interface boundary that was not compliant with the Healthy Forest Restoration Act,” wrote DeSoto. “Accordingly, the court is unable to reasonably determine compliance.” 

DeSoto also faulted the U.S. Forest Service for not fully analyzing the cumulative effects to lynx habitat from nearby forestry projects, including the 12,300-acre Cyclone Bill Project southwest of Tally Lake.  

The Forest Service approved the Cyclone Bill Project in March 2025, about one year after the Round Star Project was approved, but DeSoto noted that forest officials often communicated about the projects in conjunction with one another and that the projects’ scoping periods overlapped by more than a year. 

“Considering the adjacency of the two projects in time and space, there appears to be no question that, in some form, the cumulative effects of the two projects should have been addressed,” wrote DeSoto. 

DeSoto “found no issue” with the project's assessment of potential harms to grizzly bears and elected against fully vacating the project due to “the limited scope of the errors.”  

“It is possible that the agency may be able to resolve the errors that the court has noted with minimal delay and disruption to the project,” she wrote. 

Environmental groups still touted the case as a win. 

“We are thrilled the court acknowledged the sheer extent of logging on the Tally Lake Ranger District and sent the Forest Service back to the drawing board to consider the extent of its massive logging and roadbuilding apparatus in that area,” said Mike Garrity, executive director of Alliance for the Wild Rockies in an April 2 statement. 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 406-758-4433 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.