Judge: Pintler Face commercial logging can continue
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Commercial logging may proceed in a Forest Service project south of Anaconda, but all other activities must cease until a lawsuit is concluded, according to a federal judge.
On Friday, two and a half weeks after hearing oral arguments, Missoula federal district judge Dana Christensen issued his ruling granting most of the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction to stop the Pintler Face Project on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All noncommercial activity, such as thinning and prescribed burning, will be put on hold across the 73,000-acre project until the lawsuit is concluded, but Christensen allowed the four commercial timber sales to go forward to prevent economic hardship. The logging work is slated to start on July 16.
“Because dead and dying timber loses its commercial value rapidly, even a short-term injunction would jeopardize the local economy. Therefore, the balance of equities weighs against enjoining the commercial activities of the Project,” Christensen wrote.
“However, as it relates to the non-commercial activities of the Project, the balance of equities and public interest weigh in favor of issuing an injunction.”
The Pintler Face Project, originally proposed in 2016, is slated to log or burn more than 11,000 acres along the southeastern edge of the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness over the course of five to 10 years. Of the four commercial timber sales, one is already finished and two are 25-30% complete, leaving one yet to be started.
The plaintiffs - Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, Native Ecosystems Council and Alliance for the Wild Rockies - sued the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February, claiming the agencies hadn’t done a proper analysis of the project’s threats to Canada lynx and grizzly bears, both of which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
In particular, the Forest Service had proposed and approved the project in November 2017 prior to redrawing a map in 2020 that delineated lynx habitat. The Forest Service drew the original map of lynx habitat in 2001, which identified 509 lynx analysis units across 2.7 million acres on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest. That’s what the plaintiffs thought the project was based on.
But then, the map the Forest Service redrew in 2020 decreased the amount of lynx habitat by 60% and dropped the number of analysis units to 78. The Pintler Face Project occurs in areas where the 2020 map eliminated lynx habitat.
The issue is the Forest Service didn’t publicize the new map nor did it conduct any sort of public analysis. The plaintiffs discovered the change only as the result of discovery during a separate lawsuit about a year later. So the plaintiffs are suing to require an environmental assessment of the changes to lynx habitat and an updated biological opinion of how logging roads might affect grizzly bears.
The Forest Service asked Christensen to dismiss the injunction request because the plaintiffs hadn’t gone through all the administrative challenges prior to going to court. But the plaintiffs argued that they hadn’t been able to challenge the lynx map administratively since the Forest Service hadn’t held a public process where they could comment directly on the map change. Also, the Pintler Face environmental assessment that was finalized in 2021 didn’t reveal what changes had been made to the lynx map. Christensen agreed with the plaintiffs and denied the dismissal.
“Plaintiffs - specifically Yellowstone to Uintas - cannot be expected to comment on an issue that the Forest Service has not disclosed to the public,” Christensen wrote.
Courts have to consider four things when considering an injunction: Are the plaintiffs likely to succeed on the merits of the case; are the plaintiffs harmed; what is the balance of equities; and is the injunction in the public interest. Christensen sided with the plaintiffs on all aspects but the balance of equities.
Regarding the merits, Christensen pointed to rulings in several other cases from Montana, Idaho and Oregon that have found that the Forest Service should have conducted a thorough analysis and public process when it redrew the lynx habitat map. The rulings found that various Forest Service projects should not use the 2020 maps as proof that lynx aren’t affected by project activities. So it’s likely that the same will happen in this lawsuit based on precedent.
Christensen agreed that the lack of proper analysis could mean the project could lead to harm to the plaintiffs, although their delay of almost three years in filing their complaint raised a question of how much harm actually existed.
The balance of equities and public interest went in favor of the defendants, Christensen wrote, particularly the intervenors Iron Pine Company, Sun Mountain Lumber Inc., and Anaconda-Deer Lodge and Powell counties. The two logging companies had testified that they’d invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the salvage sales, and they’d have to lay workers off if the commercial logging was delayed. So Christensen allowed the commercial logging to continue.
The American Forest Resource Council, which represents Sun Mountain Lumber and Iron Pine Company, put out a release praising the judge for recognizing that “enjoining the project’s commercial activities would harm the local, timber-dependent communities.”
“Sun Mountain Lumber is pleased with Judge Christensen’s partial denial of the preliminary injunction on the Pintler Face Project,” said Sean Steinebach, Sun Mountain Lumber outreach forester in the release. “This decision is critical in allowing our work to continue and our milling and logging infrastructure to remain vibrant.
However, since there was no economic advantage to the noncommercial work, Christensen decided there was no public interest in having that continue. So the balance of equities tipped back toward the plaintiffs and Christensen granted that part of the injunction.
Mike Garrity, Alliance for the Wild Rockies executive director, said he was happy that the judge said the plaintiffs are likely to win the lawsuit on the merits.
"I am happy that the government will be held accountable for violating the law and happy that over 7000 acres of lynx habitat will be protected while the case is decided,” Garrity said. "It's a good precedent for other areas where the Forest Service wants to destroy lynx habitat."
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.