Conservation groups sue to block massive logging plan in Washington old-growth forests

A coalition of three conservation NGOs—Center for Biological Diversity, Kettle Range Conservation Group and Methow Forest Forum—brought a federal lawsuit on Monday against the Trump administration, targeting the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service over the Midnight Restoration Project in the Methow Valley of the Eastern Cascades. The plan would permit commercial and non-commercial timber harvest on roughly 25,000 acres, fuel-reduction work on 27,000 acres and the construction of 129 miles of firelines across a 53,000-acre area near Twisp.

Plaintiffs claim the project breaches multiple federal environmental statutes, endangers critical habitat for the endangered northern spotted owl and bull trout, and contravenes the Northwest Forest Plan’s conservation goals. Agency officials argue the treatments will create a more resilient forest and lower wildfire risk, but opponents warn that opening the canopy will exacerbate drought and fire threats. The lawsuit asks a judge to invalidate the Forest Service’s decision and the Fish and Wildlife Service’s biological opinion under the Administrative Procedure Act. Federal defendants have not commented.