Friends of Wild Swan defeated in district court

A recent court order from the U.S. District Court of Missoula upheld the Flathead National Forest in litigation regarding the Meadow Smith Project.

The order states that all aspects of the plaintiff's—Friends of the Wild Swan —motion are denied.

"We are pleased with the court order and believe this validates the good work the Flathead National Forest is doing," said Swan Lake District Ranger Steve Brady. "The folks on the forest work hard to manage healthy forest resources within the sideboards of numerous laws and regulations."

The Swan Lake District of the forest completed a record of decision for the Meadow Smith Project in 2003. The Meadow Smith Project area is about 10 miles north of Condon and includes 1,300 acres of national forest system lands in Lake and Missoula Counties.

Project actions include thinning and prescribed fire to maintain the presence of and protect the unique characteristics of open-grown, large-tree ponderosa pine and western larch forests, return fire through prescribed fire as a process of succession, and lower the risks of loss of mature large-tree forests from insects, disease and lethal fire.

An estimated 5 million board feet of timber will be offered with this project, mostly in old-growth forest.

Friends of the Wild Swan had alleged that the Forest Service had not addressed the effects of the project on the old growth species.

They also asserted that the Flathead Forest had wrongfully chosen "indicator species" for old growth.

Judge Donald Malloy's ruling upholds Amendment 21 to the Forest Plan that established a policy for managing old growth.