An 18-square-mile (47-square-kilometer) forest project approved by the U.S. Forest Service in northern Idaho harms wildlife, two environmental groups say, and they have filed a lawsuit to stop it.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Clearwater filed the lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop the Brebner Flat Project in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.
Forest Service officials say the project includes logging and other treatments needed to improve forest health and lessen the severity of a potential wildfire.
The environmental groups said the Forest Service’s analysis of the project illegally failed to include the potential effects on grizzly bears or a wild and scenic river corridor.
“The Forest Service misrepresented the possible presence of endangered species in the project area, ignored the dire status of elk habitat in the area, and lied about whether there was a wild and scenic river corridor in the project area,” Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said in a statement.