Logging project near Yellowstone up against lawsuit

Town Crier “Briefs from the Region” (2) – 12/23/20

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and two other environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop a U.S. Forest project along the western border of Yellowstone National Park in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The project aims to log, burn and make riparian improvements within a 66-mile area with the aim of improving biodiversity. Opposing conservationists believe that the project will instead threaten grizzly populations and old growth in the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River area, a world-renowned fly-fishing spot. The U.S. Forest Service has said in a statement that the primary purpose of the project is to restore aspen growth.

“Maintaining and enhancing aspen communities plays a crucial role in preserving wildlife biodiversity,” the agency said in the approval document, according to the Spokesman. “They provide important and productive deer fawning and elk calving habitat, and lend to higher survival rate and recruitment for game species.”