Conservation Groups File Lawsuit to Protect Grizzlies, Lynx, and Sage Grouse on the Continental Divide |
Lemhi Pass. Photo: US Forest Service.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, and Council on Wildlife and Fish filed a federal lawsuit to protect habitat for three rare wildlife species — grizzly bears, lynx, and sage grouse — on the Continental Divide, just north of Lemhi Pass, where Lewis and Clark first crossed the Continental Divide from present-day Montana into present-day Idaho.
This area provides a critical wildlife corridor connecting the greater Yellowstone ecosystem to the Northern Continental Divide and Bitterroot ecosystems in Montana and Idaho.
The challenged Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest action, called the “Selway-Saginaw” project, allows destructive logging, road-building, and burning activities across thousands of acres of public lands in this 66,884 acre (or 104.5 square miles) project area in a critical wildlife corridor.
We are deeply disappointed that the government would authorize this destructive project on our public lands considering the number of court rulings that have found similar projects illegal because such projects........