A federal court judge has halted a logging project on federal public land in the Little Belt Mountains in response to a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups but also ruled in favor of the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on several of the other claims.

The June 27 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen out of Missoula was in regard to a lawsuit filed in 2021 by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Native Ecosystems Council over the Horsefly Project, about 12 miles north of White Sulphur Springs.

The two groups challenged the U.S. Forest Service's decision to approve the 20.600-acre Horsefly Project, Little Belts Travel Plan and the forest plan amendment for the Horsefly Project.

The U.S. Forest Service did not respond to a query seeking comment.

The project is aimed at improving forest health and landscape resiliency, reduce wildfire hazards, and provide wood products to local and regional economies, court documents state.

U.S. Magistrate Kathleen L. De Soto recommended earlier in favor of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Native Ecosystems Council on its National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) claims and granting a summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the remaining claims, according to court documents.

Christensen ordered that DeSoto’s recommendations be adopted in full.

The court agreed with the plaintiffs that the Forest Service failed “to disclose and evaluate the decline” in goshawk nesting territories and therefore had violated NFMA and NEPA. It noted the goshawk is a management indicator species for old-growth forest special habitat needs.

The judge noted the project will include logging 5,138 acres of goshawk nesting habitat and burning 2,300 acres of its nesting habitat. There are seven goshawk home ranges known in the project area.

The judge noted that federal defendants did not meet their obligation “to consider every significant aspect of the environmental impact,” nor inform the public it considered concerns related to the decline in the nesting area in its decision-making process.

He said the project should be enjoined pending compliance with NEPA.

“The project is remanded to the agency to cure the NEAP violation and the Project is enjoined pending the agency’s compliance with NEPA,” Christensen wrote.

However, the courts sided with the defendants on four of the five claims, which included Keith Lannon, deputy regional forester with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the American Forest Research Council.

Those issues included elk habitat and road density, the impact of temporary roads on habitat effectiveness, road density and the forest plan amendment. The court also sided with the defendants over their grizzly bear analysis, which found the plan would have not adverse effects on grizzly bears unless female grizzly bears are present. DeSoto noted in her findings that the agencies found female grizzlies and cubs do not use Sheep Creek, where the project is located, and there have been very few sightings of male or subadult bears and not close to the Little Belts or project area.

He said the alliance is entitled to summary judgment on Claim III and the defendants were entitled to summary judgment for Claims I, II, IV and V.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council claimed victory.

Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the Forest Service planned on bulldozing 40.7 miles of new logging roads in the Little Belt Mountains.

"The scope of the massive Horsefly landscape-altering proposal is alarming," Garrity said in a news release. "And because the project violated federal law, it had to be enjoined.”

He said the habitat for sensitive wildlife species has to be preserved, such as the goshawk, which have been declining in population.

"Due to the importance of this species, the law requires 100% of goshawk nests to be monitored annually,” he said.

Sara Johnson, director of Native Ecosystems Council and former Forest Service wildlife biologist, said a 2018 survey of the entire forest found a 47% decline in active goshawk nests, which she said were NEPA and NFMA violations.

Johnson said the court's ruling was clear on the failure of the Forest Service to follow the law.