Court upholds timber projects

A federal judge has upheld a court ruling that allows two timber sales to go forward on the Flathead National Forest south of the Hungry Horse Reservoir near Spotted Bear.

In 2012, Friends of the Wild Swan and the Swan View Coalition sued the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service over the Soldier Addition II and Spotted Bear River logging projects.

The watchdog groups sought an injunction to stop both projects, but a U.S. magistrate recommended a ruling against the injunction.

The groups appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also ruled against them, except to say that one count of their argument, which dealt with runoff potential into the South Fork of the Flathead River, could prevail in the lower court.

The case was transferred to U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, who upheld the previous court rulings in late February. Christensen ruled that the Forest Service had adequately analyzed the cumulative impacts of both sales when it conducted an environmental analysis of both projects.

The 3,200-acre Spotted Bear River project on the west side of the reservoir called for logging on about 1,193 acres and thinning on 600 acres in several units near the Spotted Bear River.

The Soldier Addition II project called for logging and thinning on 2,500 acres on the west side of the reservoir near Taylor Creek.

The Spotted Bear project was initially approved in 2010, and the Soldier Addition II project was initially approved in 2011. The Flathead Forest maintains that the projects would improve forest health by thinning trees and help ponderosa pine stands.