American Forest Resource Council lines up against Ripley suit

A regional trade association has signed on against a lawsuit aimed at stopping a controversial forestry project south of Libby.

The American Forest Resource Council received approval from a U.S. magistrate to intervene in litigation against the Ripley Project on Nov. 22. The ruling places the council alongside the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition and Lincoln County as a third party, opposing the case mounted against the U.S. Forest Service by the leaders of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

In the lawsuit filed in Missoula federal district court, the environmental group claimed the Ripley Project could negatively affect critical habitat and migratory routes for local inbred grizzly bear populations. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies pointed to the at least three male bears researchers have tracked passing through the Ripley Project area in court documents.

Opponents of the lawsuit have noted the importance of forest fuel reduction work included in the Ripley Project for protecting the Libby area from wildland fire. Almost 5,000 acres, or 40 percent, of the treatments in the project area fall inside of the wildland-urban interface. This zone, defined in the Lincoln County Community Wildfire Protection plan, marks a transition area between forested areas at risk of wildfire and developed properties.

The forestlands covered by the Ripley Project approaches U.S. Highway 2 directly south of Libby, one of the most populous corridors in the county, according to Mark Peck, shared stewardship coordinator with the county port authority. Property near the project boundary includes the Libby Airport and many residences.

“Ripley is in the city limits — it’s urban interface along the most populated urban area in Lincoln County,” Peck said.

Last year, the state Department of Natural Resources and Conversation determined that Lincoln County had the most acres at risk of wildfire and forest degradation out of any county in the state. The state agency also marks Lincoln County as having one of the highest percentages of structures and critical infrastructure at very high or extreme risk from wildfire.

“AFRC is pleased to join our county and collaborative partners in defending this very important project to protect Libby and other nearby communities as well as to promote forest resilience on the Kootenai National Forest,” said Sara Ghafouri, general counsel of the forest resource council, in a Nov. 30 statement.

The Ripley Project proposal includes 10,854 acres of timber harvest, 1,544 acres of non-commercial treatment and 148 acres of old-growth treatment. Forest Service officials anticipate building 13 miles of system road and six miles of temporary road. The project would include maintenance on 93 miles of existing road.

“Now that intervention has been granted, the parties will brief the merits of this case in early 2022, with a hearing hopefully scheduled in the spring of 2022,” Ghafouri said in the statement. “We look forward to working with our partners and defending this project so it can be implemented as soon as possible.”