At least one of the two conservation groups suing over the Red Mountain Flume-Chessman Reservoir project, a planned Montana timber harvest, plans to proceed with a lawsuit despite a federal judge saying the groups are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their case while denying a temporary halt to the project.

“We’re proceeding,” said Steve Kelly, executive director of the Montana Ecosystems Defense Council. “It doesn’t discourage me in any way because the principles in the case are sound.” Federal Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula denied the Native Ecosystems Council and Montana Ecosystem Defense Councils a preliminary injunction, saying in part that the councils failed to show endangered species would be harmed and that the threat of wildfire to Helena’s water supply is real. A message left for Sara Johnson, director of the Ecosystem Defense Council, was not returned by press time.

While Kelly hoped Christensen would rule in their favor, other timber lawsuits have been denied a temporary injunction only to win in court, he said. “The Forest Service I know is going to log until they run out of trees or someone tells them they can’t log anymore — that’s what they do,” Kelly said.

Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and Helena city officials toured the timber sale portion of the project Wednesday as some of the first log trucks headed from the reservoir towards Clancy.

The rocky summit of Red Mountain looms above the project site, leading to vast swaths of dead lodgepole pine sweeping across the lower slopes. Loggers from R-Y Timber based in Townsend dragged hundreds of trees from the clear-cut, sorting them by machine and loading them onto trucks. The logs have several destinations based on size and quality, said Sharon Scott, Forest Service timber management officer.

From The Helena Independent Record: https://helenair.com/chessman-reservoir-lawsuit-to-continue-as-timber-harvest-begins/article_265bfd4f-f2fd-54ff-a12c-d2f85ab25d89.html