Environmental groups sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its redefinition of criteria for grizzly bear habitat in Montana, arguing changes by federal agencies allowed for the approval of a logging and road-building project that could harm bears.
Three organizations — the Native Ecosystems Council, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and Council on Wildlife and Fish — sued the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over the government’s redefinition of “secure habitat” for the threatened bears in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.
“Secure habitat” refers to the area a female grizzly needs to forage for a day or two without nearing a road. Previously defined as a 2,500-acre minimum area, in 2024 and 2025, land managers redefined the “secure habitat” needed in a recovery area in northwestern Montana down to 1 acre. That change ballooned the amount of secure habitat available to bears in a corridor between two recovery areas — called the Divide Geographic Area — from 41,531 acres to 59,143 acres, the groups said.
The environmental groups also took aim at a recently approved logging and road-building project near Elliston, Montana, which the organizations said was authorized using the altered “secure habitat” definition. That change led agencies to come to conclusions about potential harm to bears that were not based on the best science, they argued.
