City Desk
- Details
- Category: City Desk
By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - A group of conservation organizations is suing the U.S. Forest Service over the Mud Creek development project in Montana's Bitterroot National Forest. Critics say it will destroy pristine forest, but the Forest Service says it will mitigate fire hazards and improve species' habitat. Comments from Mike Garrity, executive director, Alliance for the Wild Rockies. (Pronouncer: NEPA, "NEE-pah.")
Click on the image above for the audio. About 70% of the 1.6 million-acre Bitterroot National Forest is in northwest Montana. The remainder is in southeast Idaho. (Adobe Stock)
Mark Moran
January 18, 2024 - Montana environmental groups have filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service to stop a large logging project in the Bitterroot National Forest.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies contended the project threatens species' habitat and clean water. As part of the Mud Creek project, the Forest Service would bulldoze 43 miles of new roads into the Bitterroot, burn more than 40,000 acres, carve a 2.5-mile-long trail for motorized vehicles into the forest, and log almost 14,000 acres, 4,800 of which would be clear-cut.
Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the Mud Creek project would devastate the affected section of the Bitterroot in northwest Montana.
"The name of the project said it all: Mud Creek," Garrity explained. "This watershed is bull trout critical habitat, so bulldozing in all these new roads and clear-cutting this many acres means sediment from these roads, combined with runoff from the logging and burning, will flow into streams."
The Forest Service contended the project will reduce potential fire severity and improve wildlife habitat.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies is suing the Forest Service under the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to do an in-depth Environmental Impact Statement before creating projects like Mud Creek.
Garrity argued the Forest Service didn't follow the laws.
"They're not telling the public where or when they're going to log or burn," Garrity emphasized. "The public has no idea how much it will affect streams with bull trout in them, or how many old-growth forests will be cut down."
The suit awaits action in federal court.
| Best Practices | Disclosure |
- Details
- Category: City Desk
Click on the image above for the audio.
PNS - Thursday, January 18, 2024 - An interesting twist could see a solar energy project replace a former Kentucky strip mine, a rural Colorado community won a battle to keep its reproductive health care center and in that state's skiing region, a new art show is highlighting rural queer voices.
- Details
- Category: City Desk
Click on the image above for the image.
PNS - Thursday, January 18, 2024 - A Virginia senate committee stops a GOP plan to shorten early voting, Ohio voting rights advocates push for more ballot access with a Voter Bill of Rights and former President Donald Trump gets a warning from a New York judge.
- Details
- Category: City Desk
Click on the image above for the audio.
PNS - Thursday, January 18, 2024 - Urgency grows as IN grapples with attorney shortage crisis; conservative Supreme Court justices consider weakening federal agency power; conservation groups sue to stop Forest Service Mud Creek project in Montana.
