Official updates from Friends of the Clearwater
A District Court judge has partially ruled in favor of conservation groups in a lawsuit over the impacts of federal agencies’ plans to allow increased road building in the Bitterroot National Forest. The Court found that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by disregarding harm to grizzly bears and bull trout, both of which are listed as threatened.
FOC received an op-ed in the Lewiston Tribune from Bob Hassoldt on November 9th, 2025 and responded with our own.
FOC is litigating several enormous timber projects in the South Fork drainage of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. These projects threaten the recovery of imperiled grizzly bears, as well as target rare old-growth forests for logging.
Friends of the Clearwater has hired two new staff. The first is Executive Director Kyran Kunkel and the second is Office Manager Krystal Starkey. Current board member and former staff member Gary Macfarlane introduces both staff in the letter below.
A proposed rule from the US Fish and Wildlife Service aims to change direction on grizzly bear management in the lower 48. While the proposal acknowledges the need to connect isolated grizzly populations, the rule provides little to make that a reality.
Additionally, the proposed 4(d) rule exception would allow for greater harassment and killing of grizzly bears by federal and state agencies and even private landowners.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to rescind the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act, excluding habitat modification, degradation, and destruction from the definition of harm to a species. This would dismantle one of the express purposes of the Act, which is to “provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered […] and threatened species depend may be conserved.”
Acting supervisor Heath Perrine signs the 2025 Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests Land Management Plan (“Forest Plan” or “Plan”). The Plan replaces many measurable, enforceable standards with ambiguous guidelines and unsustainable timber production targets.
In anticipation of a second Trump administration, the Biden administration quietly withdraws the proposed National Old-Growth Amendment. The amendment, as written, would have done little to stymie mature and old-growth logging in North-Central Idaho.
You can access the Defender here.
