Commissioners for Anaconda-Deer Lodge County voted unanimously last week to intervene in a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups that hope to halt the Pintler Face timber project on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
The commission, along with County Attorney Ben Krakowka and others, voiced concerns that the lawsuit, if successful, would have negative regional economic impacts and thwart work they believe would improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk in lodgepole stands rife with beetle-killed timber. Â Â
Krakowka said Monday that Anaconda-Deer Lodge County will basically step in as a co-defendant in the lawsuit âbecause of the likely effect on our local economyâ if plaintiffs prevail.
If that happens, the city-county will not be on the hook for paying the plaintiffsâ legal and attorneysâ fees. The federal government would have to pay those costs under provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Equal Access to Justice Act. Â
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According to one legal definition, âintervening is entry into a lawsuit by a third party into an existing civil case who was not named as an original party but has a personal stake in the outcome.â
Krakowka said Anaconda-Deer Lodge Countyâs stake is significant. Timber jobs and revenues could be affected and wildfire burning in the proposed timber sale area could affect commerce and tourism, he said.
The city-county is not hiring an attorney for the case, Krakowka said.
âWe are being represented by Christopher Griffith with Haglund Kelley LLP,â he said, a law firm based in Oregon. âHis representation is being paid for by the timber industry who also has an interest in seeing the project go forward.â
Krakowka said he will organize information from Anaconda-Deer Lodge County and continue to advise the county commission. Â
The U.S. Forest Service, a defendant in the case, reports that the Pintler Face project area is 73,624 acres and located about 10 miles northwest of Wise River on the south face of the Anaconda Range on the Wisdom Ranger District of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
The project would involve logging, burning or other âvegetation treatmentsâ on about 11,224 acres roughly paralleling sections of the Mill Creek Highway and Montana 43. About 11 miles of new, temporary roads would be constructed. Many existing roads would be decommissioned, according to the Pintler Face plan.
As first reported by The Anaconda Leader, commissioners also heard last week from Sean Steinebach, an outreach forester for Sun Mountain Lumber, and from Chris Marchion, an inductee into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame, a longtime advocate for wildlife and public lands access and a member of the Anaconda Sportsmanâs Club.
Both men have previously expressed support for the Pintler Face project, saying it could improve forest health, reduce fuel loads and benefit timber jobs in the region.
Lawsuit targets project
The lawsuit targeting the Pintler Face project was filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula in February by the Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, Native Ecosystems Council and Alliance for the Wild Rockies.
The litigation was filed well after the Forest Service project decision was released in September 2021. Logging had already begun.
At the time of the filing, Michael Garrity, executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the lag was due to not finding a lawyer earlier to take the case.
The lawsuit contends that the Forest Serviceâs analysis for the Pintler Face project was inadequate â especially when considering potential impacts on grizzly bears, Canada lynx and wolverines. The litigation also alleges that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act when remapping lynx habitat on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge in 2020 by failing to complete either an environmental assessment, EA, or environmental impact statement, EIS.
In addition, the plaintiffs allege that the Forest Service should have completed an EIS instead of a less comprehensive EA for the Pintler Face project and faults the biological opinion contributed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The plaintiffsâ lawsuit asked the court to either reject the project decision or block its implementation.
More recently, on May 17, the plaintiffs filed a motion seeking either a preliminary injunction or restraining order to stop logging of the Pintler Face project â work set to resume in mid-July â until the court issues a final decision.
U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen has set a hearing for June 25 in Missoula to consider the plaintiffsâ motion for an injunction or restraining order.
Grizzly bear analysisÂ
Defendants in the case also include the Fish and Wildlife Service.
âThe grizzly bear analysis for the project also violates the law,â Garrity said in February. âThe biological opinion, which was done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, failed to use the best available science, and fails to adequately address the environmental baseline as well as the direct, indirect and cumulative effects on grizzly bears â all of which are required by law.â
Both Marchion and Steinebach live in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County. Both are members of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Working Group, a citizens group representing diverse interests. Members represent interests in conservation, hunting and fishing, timber, outfitters and guides, agriculture/ranching, recreation and more.
One goal is to resolve issues on the forest that might otherwise trigger litigation.
Both Marchion and Steinebach participated in the review of the Pintler Face timber sale and both were generally satisfied with the decision green-lighting the project.
âThe Forest Service worked really well with us,â Marchion said. âWe had a lot of input.â
âA forest health disasterâÂ
Steinebach has described acreage included in the Pintler Face timber project as âa forest health disaster.â
He said intense wildfires during the summer of 2021 â including the Alder Creek and Trail Creek fires â were in habitat similar to that within the Pintler Face project.
Marchion has said that historic logging by the Anaconda Company, followed by timber cutting in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s had âlogged the bejesus out of much of the areaâ and left a network of high-standard roads. Many were later closed. In many places, large, even-aged, over-mature stands of lodgepole pines remain, Marchion said.
Garrity said Monday that commissioners for Anaconda-Deer Lodge County would be better off focusing time and energy elsewhere âsince federal courts have previously ruled against the Forest Service on the same issues in this case, mainly that the Forest Service canât secretly eliminate lynx habitat and they have to look at the effect of illegal roads on grizzly bearsâŠ
âInstead of advocating for illegal clearcutting of big game habitat, the commissioners should urge the Forest Service to follow the law like all Americans have to,â Garrity said.
Meanwhile, Steinebach said Monday that Sun Mountain Lumber and others in the industry are grateful for the willingness of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County to intervene in the case.
âIt shows support for what weâre doing and a commitment to keeping jobs in the community, as well as a commitment to forest health and fuels reduction,â he said.