HELENA — A federal judge has now lifted his block on two of three logging projects near a small grizzly bear population in northwestern Montana.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said Tuesday additional analysis provided by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Grizzly Project in the Kootenai National Forest is sufficient.
The judge says the new analysis addresses previous violations of the National Environmental Policy act and the National Forest Management Act.
A similar injunction against the nearby Little Beaver Project was lifted in April 2012.
An injunction remains in place for the third project, but Forest Service officials say a supplemental analysis is expected soon.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies sued to stop the projects over the potential harm to bears in the forest’s Cabinet-Yaak area.