Two local watchdog groups plan to sue the U.S. Forest Service over a recently approved 7,700-acre forestry project west of Hungry Horse Reservoir.

Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan argue the federal agency improperly classified the West Reservoir Project as an emergency, allowing it to forgo key assessments required under the Endangered Species Act.  

Central to the groups’ concerns is the 4.7-mile network of roads the Forest Service intends to build as part of the project. Roads can fragment habitat and displace grizzly bears, leading to long-term population declines. Sediments from the roadways can also slough into nearby waterways, many of which serve as critical spawning and rearing habitat for bull trout. Both species are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. 

A final decision notice for the West Reservoir Project, signed March 11, acknowledges that the proposed timber sale may have adverse effects on both grizzly bear and bull trout populations. 

The finding would normally necessitate a formal consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the production of a biological opinion that outlined strategies to mitigate harm to each species. Flathead National Forest Supervisor Anthony Botello leapfrogged those requirements by citing a clause in the Endangered Species Act that allows agencies to pursue alternative consultation procedures in emergencies where human life or property are threatened. 

“It’s totally out of line trying to invoke those [emergency procedures] in a pretty garden-variety timber sale,” said Arlene Montgomery, program director of Friends for the Wild Swan.   

A longtime advocate for wildlife in the Swan Valley, Montgomery said she has never seen a federal agency attempt to use the emergency consultation clause of the Endangered Species Act to complete what would typically be considered routine management. 

The West Reservoir project includes 2,001 acres of commercial treatments and 5,703 acres of noncommercial treatments, including 4,654 acres of prescribed burning projects and 873 acres of whitebark pine restoration projects. 

“The project qualifies [for an emergency action determination] because the proposed actions will improve forest health and resilience and reduce potential wildfire impacts to important values at risk,” reads the decision notice. 

Montgomery said she found the workaround to the typical project consultation procedures especially troubling as the forest also lacks an approved forest-wide assessment of the effects of roadways on endangered species.  

Flathead National Forest revised how it assessed and managed roadways in 2018, as part of a regular update to its central guiding document, the Forest Plan. Both Friends of the Wild Swan and Swan View Coalition sued, arguing that an assessment provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly account for how the altered road-building provisions would impact grizzly bears and bull trout.  

A federal judge sided with the conservation groups and remanded the relevant sections of the Forest Plan back to the agency for further review. Two years later, Montgomery said the requisite changes have yet to be made.  

“Nevertheless, the agency now purports to rely on the road-management direction of the Revised Forest Plan to authorize the West Reservoir Project,” reads a letter sent to the Forest Service on March 24, informing the federal agency of the conservation groups’ intent to sue. 

The letter states that the forest’s approval of the West Reservoir Project without both a project-specific and a legally valid forest-wide endangered species assessment was "arbitrary and unlawful under the Endangered Species Act,” and that the groups will pursue legal action against the forest if the alleged violations are not addressed within 60 days. 

“This one is really egregious because it’s on multiple levels,” said Montgomery. “They’re just flaunting the law, flaunting the court.”     

Work on the West Reservoir Project was originally slated to begin this summer.  

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.