Lemhi Pass. Photo: US Forest Service.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council, and Council on Wildlife and Fish filed a federal lawsuit to protect habitat for three rare wildlife species — grizzly bears, lynx, and sage grouse — on the Continental Divide, just north of Lemhi Pass, where Lewis and Clark first crossed the Continental Divide from present-day Montana into present-day Idaho.

This area provides a critical wildlife corridor connecting the greater Yellowstone ecosystem to the Northern Continental Divide and Bitterroot ecosystems in Montana and Idaho.

The challenged Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest action, called the “Selway-Saginaw” project, allows destructive logging, road-building, and burning activities across thousands of acres of public lands in this 66,884 acre (or 104.5 square miles) project area in a critical wildlife corridor.

We are deeply disappointed that the government would authorize this destructive project on our public lands considering the number of court rulings that........

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