Thursday, September 13, 2012

Conservation Groups Challenge Federal Approval of Weak Montana Wildlife Protections

Conservation groups notified U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar of their intent to bring a legal challenge to federal approval of a forest development plan in Montana that will likely harm grizzly bears and bull trout. Both species are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Friends of the Wild Swan, Montana Environmental Information Center, and Natural Resources Defense Council, represented by Earthjustice, are challenging a 50-year permit given to the State of Montana to log and build roads on state forests lands in western Montana, activities that the state admits would harm federally protected species. The groups say that the permit fails to include essential protections for bull trout and grizzly bears. The Endangered Species Act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to ensure that its permit issuance to Montana’s Department Natural Resource and Conservation “is not likely to jeopardize” listed species’ survival. It restrains USFWS from approving a permit until Montana demonstrates that it will mitigate the impacts of its harm to the protected species. The permit given to Montana fails both of these requirements...more

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