US Federal Judge Halts Huge Forest Service Clearcutting Scheme West of Whitefish, Montana

Mike Garrity

April 6, 2026

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The primary reason we took the U.S. Forest Service to court — and won — over the Round Star Logging Project is because lynx critical habitat is the worst place for clearcuts, and the surest way to drive lynx to extinction is to allow the Forest Service to continue its massive deforestation of the West.

Four conservation groups, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, Council on Wildlife and Fish, and Native Ecosystems Council, filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service in January 2025 in Federal District Court in Missoula,  The lawsuit challenged the project, which is about 13 miles west of Whitefish, Montana, in the Flathead National Forest.

This ill-conceived project authorized logging on 9,151 acres (more than 14 square miles), with 6,324 acres of commercial logging, clearcutting, and bulldozing over 22 miles of new roads. It is not only in lynx critical habitat, but also in important grizzly bear connectivity habitat to grizzly and lynx habitat in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem in northwest Montana.

Grizzlies, lynx, and wolverines are present in the area and listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, which requires federal agencies to recover, not decimate, those species.

The Forest Service’s so-called “conservation strategy” for lynx promotes clearcutting instead of lynx. This is directly contrary to the Endangered Species Act, which requires the Forest Service to maintain and recover lynx populations and the ecosystems upon which they depend. Instead the Forest Service tries to destroy the naturally thick forests that lynx — and their primary prey of snowshoe hares — require to survive. Yet the agency does no monitoring, so the ongoing decline of lynx isn’t even being tracked as the agency continues to clearcut our National Forests.

Court rules the Forest Service committed the following legal violations:

1) The Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take the legally required “hard look” at the cumulative impacts from the Round Star logging project and the neighboring Cyclone Bill logging project.

Cumulatively, ongoing projects in this area total almost 42,000 acres of logging and burning and add 100 miles of new roads in close proximity to the Round Star Project area. Yet the impacts of the Cyclone Bill Project were not even mentioned in the Round Star Environmental Assessment, nor were the cumulative effects of roads and/or logging activities on lynx, grizzly bears, and wolverine from the enormous amount of Forest Service logging in the Tally Lake Ranger District analyzed.

We are thrilled the Court acknowledged the sheer extent of logging on the Tally Lake Ranger District and sent the Forest Service back to the drawing board to consider the extent of its massive logging and roadbuilding apparatus in that area.

2) The Forest Service violated the Forest Plan Standards in order to clearcut, thin, and burn lynx habitat. They unlawfully tried to expand the exemptions in the Forest Plan for areas of steep terrain near at-risk communities in what is called the “Wildland Urban Interface” but the area does not have steep terrain. It has gently rolling hills.

Once again, this is an issue the Alliance already won on in a Ninth Circuit decision against a Forest Service project in Idaho — and a majority of the judges on that panel were appointed by President Trump.

Insanity

The Forest Service keeps misusing the Healthy Forest Restoration Act’s definition of the Wildland Urban Interface to expand logging far beyond communities. They keep getting caught doing so and they keep losing in court when we challenge them.

Perhaps the agency thinks it can attempt to break the law, over and over and expect a different result. But that’s the definition of insanity, and seeing the Forest Service try to get around the law again really is insane. Maybe the Forest Service thought true conservation advocates would go away — but we are not, and we will not. We live by the law and will continue to ensure the Forest Service does, too.

Clearcuts in the Tally Ranger District.

Unlogged Forests are the Healthiest Forests

It drives us crazy that the Forest Service continues to justify clearcutting by claiming forests are unhealthy. These forests are not diseased or sick and don’t need to be ‘treated.’ Don’t be fooled by industry and Forest Service propaganda.

It is not easy or cheap to beat the federal government in federal court. Please consider making a donation to help us. We desperately need your help. The Trump administration is keeping us very busy.  Please also consider donating to Counterpunch so they can continue educating the public about what the federal government is doing.

Mike Garrity is the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

Ecosocialism 

Metabolic rifts: Michael Roberts interviews Ian Angus on his new book

By Michael Roberts & Ian Angus

Published date 2 April, 2026

First published at Michael Roberts economist.

Like an autoimmune disease that attacks the body it dwells in, capitalism is tearing apart the very planet that feeds it. Ian Angus’ Metabolic Rifts: Capitalism’s Assault on the Earth System, builds on Karl Marx’s insight that while capitalism is dependent on the natural world, it is also waging war on the natural systems that sustain life on Earth. Angus explains and elaborates on the Marxist view that capitalism is massively disrupting essential exchanges of matter and energy between society and the rest of nature, putting the entire Earth System in danger. 

After tracing the long-neglected history of metabolic rift theory in scientific and socialist writing, Angus draws on a wealth of modern research to extend and deepen the natural science basis of Marxist ecology. In clear, non-technical language, Metabolic Rifts offers a scientific basis for understanding the deep causes of today’s environmental crises, and a program for action to prevent catastrophe in our time.

Ian Angus is the author of Facing the Anthropocene (Monthly Review Press, 2016), editor of the online ecosocialist journal Climate & Capitalism, and a founding member of the Global Ecosocialist Network

Conservationists Win Another Battle in the Fight for Bitterroot Grizzly Bears

Mike Garrity

April 2, 2026



Grizzly sow and cub. Photo: Frank van Mane/USGS.

On March 31, two Montana grassroots conservation groups, Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council, prevailed in their lawsuit to stop a logging and road-building project on public lands in the Sapphire Mountains of the Bitterroot Valley because the government had pretended that grizzly bears were not present in that region. The facts show otherwise — grizzly bears are repeatedly attempting to repopulate the Bitterroot Valley on both the east and west sides. The court order requires that the government acknowledge the growing presence of grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Valley and act appropriately to protect them.

This victory follows the groups’ recent victory mandating that the government prepare a new environmental analysis on Bitterroot grizzly bear recovery. “These cases are two sides of the same coin. On one side, we fought for and won a new analysis that will look at the big picture of Bitterroot grizzly recovery over the whole region; on the other side, we fought and prevailed against a specific project that is trying to move forward as if Bitterroot grizzly bears don’t exist. We will continue to protect these Bitterroot grizzly bears at both the regional scale, and the site-specific project scale.

The project stopped by the most recent lawsuit was called the Gold Butterfly Project, and proposed bulldozing in 6.4 miles of new roads, adding 16.5 miles of illegal, non-system roads, and decommissioning 5.8 miles of system roads, for a net increase of 17.1 miles of permanent system roads. The project also proposed private, for-profit commercial logging and clearcutting on 5,281 acres or 8.25 square miles of National Forest public lands, including logging 567 acres of old growth forests, and non-commercial logging and burning on an additional 2,084 acres or 3.25 square miles.

Most grizzlies are killed within 1/3 mile of a road. So this is great news for Bitterroot grizzly bears since they would be at incredible risk if the Forest Service was allowed to bulldoze even more roads into the project area.

The court ruled that the Forest Service violated federal law when it told the public that there weren’t grizzlies in the Sapphire mountains. Keeping grizzlies safe in the Bitterroot region is the lynchpin to recovery of grizzlies in the lower 48 states. This critical area connects the grizzly population in the Greater Yellowstone region with the grizzly bear populations in the Northern Continental Divide, Cabinet-Yaak, and Selkirk regions, thus providing genetic diversity to preclude irreversible inbreeding.

This is a win for Bitterroot grizzlies and the entire grizzly bear population in the Northern Rockies Ecosystem. We will continue to fight to ensure the recovery of these bears. We not only have to fight to recover grizzly bears, we also need to fight to recover the ecosystems upon which they depend. It is not easy or cheap to beat the most powerful government in the world and one that has unlimited resources. Because we are a very small group, anything you can donate to us to help us pay for this fight will help immensely. Please also consider donating to Counterpunch so they can continue to spread the word on what our government is doing.


Mike Garrity is the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

 

Pigs and grizzlies, not monkeys, hold clues to youthful human skin

Washington State University

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PULLMAN, Wash. — The secret to youthful appearance and repairing scars may lie in a microscopic skin structure humans share with pigs and grizzly bears — but, surprisingly, not monkeys.

While it had been thought these ridge and valley-like skin microstructures — called rete ridges — form during fetal growth, researchers at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine found they actually develop shortly after birth and identified a key molecular signal that drives their development.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, could lead to new therapies designed to reverse or slow skin aging and improve wound and scar repair.

“These structures degrade as we age; now we know how they form and have a blueprint to guide future work on restoring them,” said Ryan Driskell, an associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s School of Molecular Biosciences and senior author on the paper. “Most scientists assumed these skin ridges formed during early embryonic development, which explains why no one really understood their origin.”

Rete ridges act like biological “Velcro,” Driskell said, anchoring the outer layer of skin, or epidermis, to the dermal layer beneath while helping to maintain elasticity and strength. As these ridges flatten with age, skin becomes thinner and more prone to sagging and damage.

Despite their importance, research has been stalled for decades by a major hurdle: the wrong animal models.

“When most people look at the skin of different animals, they see differences in fur. Rete ridges lie under the surface of skin, however, so it wasn’t until we looked closer that we discovered that animals with thicker skin, like pigs, grizzly bears and dolphins, have rete ridges like we do,” said Sean Thompson, a doctoral student in Driskell’s lab who served as first author on the study. “In contrast, common biomedical models for humans like mice and non-human primates are furry and lack rete ridges.”

While the grizzly bear provided evolutionary data that suggests body size dictates skin structure, the bear’s unique biology made it impossible to track day-by-day development of rete ridges. This led the team to the pig, which has a developmental timeline that researchers could precisely monitor.

Partnering with local farmers, the team collected skin tissue samples from pigs at various developmental stages and ultimately showed that rete ridges form after birth.

“We expected this structure to be established before birth, so seeing it emerge afterward was a surprise,” Driskell said. “That timing changes how we think skin architecture is built and why it may be possible to influence it later in life.”

Using advanced genetic mapping techniques, the team also identified a key biological pathway — bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling — that activates to form these structures. This pathway serves as a set of molecular instructions, guiding how cells communicate and organize into complex tissue. Since rete ridges disappear with age, reactivating BMP signaling could help restore youthful skin and improve scar repair, in addition to possibly leading to new treatments for conditions like psoriasis.

“That BMP signaling drives rete ridges is exciting as it holds significant translational potential,” said Maksim Plikus, a professor at the University of California, Irvine and co-author on the paper. “Use of BMP proteins has already been FDA-approved for orthodontic applications, mapping the way for their use in aged skin and scars.”

The discovery also has the potential to help improve livestock health and adaptability to different climates. By understanding how these features form, researchers can explore ways to breed pigs and other livestock with skin traits suited for different conditions.

Driskell has filed a provisional patent related to his team’s discoveries.

The study involved WSU’s Bear Research, Education and Conservation Center and partnerships with local farmers and producers, with additional contributions from the University of Washington Birth Defects Research Laboratory and clinical collaborators at Spokane Dermatology. It was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the USDA Agricultural Research Service through the Resilient Livestock Initiative.

---

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-10055-5 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Publication Date

4-Feb-2026

Alliance Stops Secret Plans to Clearcut Yellowstone’s Western Flank  

Steve Kelly

 January 13, 2026

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Gallatin Range. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

The U.S. Forest Service and logging companies are frantically attempting to privatize public forests.

Know Your Enemy

Their multiple political and psychological tactics include:

1) Prohibit meaningful public participation,

2) limit full public disclosure of adverse ecological effects,

3) gaslight and push false narratives (propaganda), and

4) deny constitutionally protected rights to judicial review of massive, destructive clearcutting and roadbuilding programs and projects that continue to plunder, fragment and domesticate our wild, public national forests.

A growing number of people are fighting back against deregulation, deforestation and desertification.  Clearly, the federal government’s reaction grows increasingly secretive and paranoid – and hyper-violent against Nature’s many gifts.

Government “yes men” posing as forest experts spew perennial lies as a sign of their unwavering servitude and loyalty to America’s feudal oligarchy. These useful tools have long suffered from mental disorders best characterized as systematized delusions of pretentious grandiosity and infallibility.

Even diehard timber beasts are sensing the socio-political shift away from unregulated fascist expropriation toward greater freedom and liberty for all living organisms and the ecosystems upon which all sentient beings depend. The ‘old guard’ should be frightened.

Another One Bites the Dust

Fortunately, in Missoula, Montana, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy delivered a glimmer of hope and welcome relief as we enter 2026, by ruling against the Custer-Gallatin National Forest’s massive clearcut logging project.

For now, peace and solitude are restored to this incredibly valuable wildlife connecting corridor in the rugged backcountry between the Continental Divide and Yellowstone National Park.

Many thanks go out to the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Native Ecosystems Council, Council for Wildlife and Fish, WildEarth Guardians, and lawyers at Western Environmental Law Center and Center for Biological Diversity  for standing up – and winning – against this gathering collaborative assault by faux-green groups, government “experts” and industry “sawdust merchants.”

Successfully defending essential wildlife and fisheries habitat in the Yellowstone Ecosystem is a huge victory for grizzly bears, wild buffalo, native trout, wolverine, lynx, moose, deer, migratory and local birds, and other wildlife.

The Court shut down the 40,000-acre “South Plateau Landscape Area Treatment Project,” designed and approved by the U.S. Forest Service and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Sun Mountain Lumber, with mills operating in Deer Lodge and Livingston, Montana, purchased the “stumpage” (trees standing on the stump). Although 16,500 acres of primarily lodgepole forest would be killed, and 56 miles of new logging roads would be bulldozed (permanent linear clearcuts), the feds declared there would be “no significant impact” on the Yellowstone Ecosystem, or any wildlife species inhabiting the semi-arid project area.

What the Court discovered to be beyond belief was the fact that no details could be found in the record disclosing on a map, or anywhere in the hundreds of pages of vague, double-talk, as to the precise time or location of where death and destruction would occur.

Promoting their ‘Big, Secret Lies’ in Court, lawyers for the Defendants (neo-colonialist USFS-USDA plantation managers and their lackies) yammered on and on about how clearcuts would increase “resilience,” promote “forest health” and reduce wildfire risk – whatever that is supposed to mean.

Clearcutting mature lodgepole pine forests in these remote, undeveloped landscapes is a crime against Nature.  Lodgepole pine is a dominant forest habitat type in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which has evolved for millennia with stand-replacing fires.  Clearcuts often cause deforestation and desertification in similar harsh conditions.

Judge Molloy wisely halted the Forest Service’s logging plans, ruling that vague, undisclosed moving targets fail to meet the legal standards required by the Endangered Species Act when critical habitat occupied by wolverine, grizzlies and lynx is threatened.

Stayin’ Alive

If the government doesn’t obey the law, why should anyone else?

People must unite, stand together, and fight this gang of imperial outlaws trying to seize public forests.  Small cash contributions are the lifeblood of grassroots, public interest organizations like the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and CounterPunch.

Each one of us must understand that ecological devastation is foundational to our collective descent deeper and deeper into American Dystopia.  I respect and honor the resistance and courage of Renee Goodman, Palestinians, and many, many others, and endangered wildlife as we fight individually, and in small groups, against the tyranny of American Empire. It’s now, or never.

Steve Kelly is a an artist and environmental activist. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.