Ninth Circuit Upholds Wood Duck Logging Project on Helena-Lewis and Clark Forest

A federal appeals court on March 13 cleared the path for logging operations to proceed on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, affirming a lower court's refusal to block the U.S. Forest Service's Wood Duck Project in the Big Belt Mountains east of Townsend.

A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel consisting of Judges W. Fletcher, Richard Paez, and Patrick Bumatay ruled that the Forest Service adequately explained how the project complies with the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest management plan and provided sufficient analysis and data in compliance with both the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act. The ruling in Native Ecosystems Council v. Webber, case No. 25-4008, leaves two already-awarded timber sales free to move forward across a 69,876-acre project area straddling Meagher and Broadwater counties.

The plaintiffs, Native Ecosystems Council, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and Council on Wildlife and Fish, had sought to stop logging and road construction through a preliminary injunction filed in the District of Montana on May 9, 2025. Attorneys Rebecca K. Smith of the Public Interest Defense Center and Timothy M. Bechtold of the Bechtold Law Firm filed the 6,471-word motion on the groups' behalf. Alliance for the Wild Rockies separately requested a partial injunction targeting specifically the Diamond City Timber Sale and any subsequent timber sales authorized under the project.

At the time the motion was filed, project activity had been paused. A declaration from Michael Garrity submitted May 8, 2025, noted that "no activities are currently occurring in the Project area, but activities may commence or re-commence next month June 2025." One timber sale had not yet broken ground; a second had started but was halted for spring breakup.

District Judge Dana L. Christensen of the District of Montana denied the preliminary injunction, and the conservation groups appealed. The Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in Seattle on February 12, 2026, before issuing its memorandum disposition five weeks later. The panel reviewed the district court's denial for abuse of discretion, the standard governing preliminary injunction appeals.

The plaintiffs raised claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Forest Management Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, arguing they faced likely irreparable harm and that the balance of harms and the public interest favored a halt to operations. The Ninth Circuit's memorandum, filed by Clerk Molly C. Dwyer, found those arguments insufficient to overcome the Forest Service's record.

Sun Mountain Lumber, Inc., which intervened as a defendant at the appellate stage in support of the Forest Service, also prevailed. Named Forest Service defendants in the case included Aaron Webber, the Townsend District Ranger; Emily Platt, the Helena-Lewis and Clark Forest Supervisor; and Leanne Marten, the U.S. Forest Service Northern Region Forester.

The project area sits almost entirely on National Forest System lands, with 68,343 of its 69,876 acres under Forest Service jurisdiction and the remaining 1,533 acres comprising private and Bureau of Land Management parcels. The plaintiffs' exhibits included the project's Environmental Assessment, Decision Notice, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks letter, an Elk Report, excerpts from the 2021 Revised Forest Plan, and a 2014 scientific study on the impact of roads on grizzly bear populations in Alberta.

The Ninth Circuit designated its ruling a memorandum disposition not appropriate for publication, meaning it carries no binding precedential weight beyond the parties in this case under Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.