Grizzly bear. Photo: Jean Beaufort. Public Domain.
On Monday, a federal court in Montana issued a preliminary injunction against an illegal logging project in occupied grizzly bear habitat in the Gravelly Mountains of Montana, in the Greater Yellowstone region. The injunction against the Greenhorn logging project in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest was requested by conservation groups the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Council on Wildlife and Fish, Gallatin Wildlife Association, and Native Ecosystems Council, which are all groups that work to protect endangered species in the Greater Yellowstone area.
This is a big victory for Yellowstone grizzlies, as well as the other endangered species that call this region home, like lynx and wolverines. People come here every year to visit because it is a wild landscape that provides some of the best remaining habitat in the country for these endangered wildlife species. Our goal is to keep it that way. People don’t come here to experience clearcuts and logging roads full of weeds defacing the landscape.
This illegal logging project was halted because of the seriousness of the government’s legal violation here. A court can only issue a preliminary injunction if we establish four elements:
(1) a likelihood of success on the merits,
(2) a likelihood of irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction,
(3) that the balance of equities tips in the plaintiff’s favor, and
(4) that the injunction is in the public interest.
Although this is no easy task, we established all four elements because the facts here were compelling — we need to protect the grizzly habitat in this area.
The law is clear. The government cannot claim it is protecting grizzly bears by leaving blocks of habitat as small as 10 acres. No grizzly bear can live in a 10-acre patch of habitat. It’s just an absurd argument, which is why the government could not point to any scientific support for it. All available science from the government itself shows that grizzly bears need large areas – at least 1,000 acres if not more — for their secure habitat blocks.
Although our injunction request was successful here, the rule of law, and our endangered wildlife species, are the real winners here. It’s never easy to go to court, and we are ruthlessly attacked by politicians and special interest groups every time we do. But grizzly bears cannot represent themselves in court. So we must stand up for them, and put in the hundreds of hours of hard work it takes to secure injunctions like this one.
We will continue this work and continue to demand that government agencies follow the law. We will not allow extinction on our watch but we need your help to do it.
Please consider making a donation to the Alliance for the Wild Rockies to help us fight to keep species from going extinct. Please also donate to Counterpunch so they can continue to spread the news about what our government is doing.
