State lands within the grizzly bear management unit that the conservation coalition is trying to protect from planned logging activities.

This is a color infra-red image from Landsat 7, July 2001 of state managed forest lands around Dworshak Reservoir on the North Fork of the Clearwater River. The dark area in the southeast portion of the image is forest service lands which still retain their forest cover. The light colored areas covering the remainder of the image represent clearcuts. The extensive road network can be seen as white lines zig-zagging through the clearcuts. This type of industrial logging is what the coalition is working to prevent in the Selkirks.

The Selkirk Ecosystem, extending from British Columbia down into eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle, is a critical link in the habitats for many federally protected species, including the woodland caribou, grizzly bear, gray wolf, lynx, and bull trout. Despite the biological significance of this area, it has suffered from years of mismanagement by the forest service, state of Idaho, and private timber companies with lands in the area.

Conservation Geography is providing analytical services to a coalition of national, state, and local conservation groups in support of their efforts to protect this important ecosystem. The analyses are focused on a lawsuit being brought by the groups against the State of Idaho for violations of the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit is based on the state’s logging and road building activities in designated grizzly bear management units. Additional claims relate to management of off-road vehicles in the area as well as water quality impacts from erosion. Through litigation efforts, the groups are hoping to preserve and restore security habitat for grizzly bears through permanent road closures and the prevention of logging activities in critical habitat areas. Although the suit is based primarily on impacts to the grizzly bear, many other species in the area will also benefit if the conservationist’s are successful.