June 5, 2026 UPDATE: With no response from the federal government to their 60-day Notice of Intent, Earthjustice attorneys for Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan today filed the threatened lawsuit in U.S. District Court. Click here for their press release. Click here for the lawsuit Complaint. Scroll down for more background and the Notice of Intent.
Click here to read a comprehensive article about this in the Flathead Beacon.
March 24, 2026: Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan on March 24 filed notice they will sue the federal government for approving the Flathead National Forest's West Reservoir logging and road building project without completing interagency consultation required under the Endangered Species Act. The law requires the groups provide 60 days formal notice before filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
The logging project would build 4.7 miles of new logging roads, block the entrance in an attempt to make them impassable to motor vehicles, but not count them in Total Road Density, which cannot be increased in order to protect threatened grizzly bears and bull trout from habitat displacement and road sediment in streams. In response to the groups' previous lawsuit against the Flathead Forest Plan, a federal judge in 2024 faulted the agencies for not counting “impassable” roads in Total Road Density and ordered a new biological opinion be written for the Flathead Forest Plan, something which has yet to be completed.
“The entire timber sale area already has too many roads and the Forest Service admits this is harming grizzly bears,” said Swan View Coalition Chair Keith Hammer. “Yet the agency is attempting to fake an emergency and build even more damaging roads rather than consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on how to fix the problem. They can paint it with whatever brush they want - reducing wildfire risk, improving forest health and resiliency - they'll use whatever excuse they can come up with to put public logs in private sawmills.”
The groups are being represented by Earthjustice. Click here to read their press release.
Click here to read their 60-day Notice of Intent to File Suit.
Click here to read a comprehensive article about this in the Flathead Beacon.
