Tom Partin: Another Forest Project Halted While Montana Wildfire Risks Grow

Note: This piece was originally published in The Missoulian, December 30, 2025

Once again a federal court decision has stopped a well-designed forest management project, leaving communities and wildlife habitat more vulnerable to wildfire while a small group of anti-forestry activists declares victory. The recent ruling vacating the South Plateau Project on the Custer-Gallatin National Forest is not a win for conservation. It's just another example of how litigation-driven obstruction continues to undermine common sense forest management in Montana.

The South Plateau Project was developed to address real and growing risks on the landscape. The area is dominated by dense homogenous lodgepole pine stands that are highly vulnerable to insects, disease, and severe fire. About 90 percent of the project area falls within Fire Regime Group V, where stand replacing fires are likely. Eighty percent of the lodgepole pine stands in this area are rated as highly susceptible to mountain pine beetle outbreak. These are the same conditions that have fueled some of the most destructive wildfires in the region in recent years.

The Forest Service designed the project to reduce those risks while improving long term forest health. Our public lands managers projected the treatments would have significantly lowered the probability of a beetle outbreak and would have created safer conditions for firefighters working to protect nearby communities. The project also would have permanently reduced 8.2 miles of forest roads improving grizzly bear secure habitat and protecting water quality. These outcomes reflect thoughtful planning and close coordination with federal wildlife managers.

Despite this work the project was halted by a lawsuit brought by groups that oppose active forest management as a matter of ideology. In recent news coverage those groups have celebrated the decision as a victory for wildlife. That claim ignores that high severity wildfire can wipe out habitat, old forest structure, and sensitive species in a single event. Blocking proactive management does not preserve ecosystems, it leaves them increasingly exposed to catastrophic loss.

What is largely absent from recent news coverage and commentary is any recognition of the human cost. Montana workers whose jobs depend on working in the woods are once again paying the price for endless litigation. Sun Mountain had already begun implementing its timber sale associated with this project when the ruling was issued. That work is now stopped and the uncertainty ripples through our communities that rely on forest management for family wage jobs and economic stability.

The ruling is especially troubling because it reversed course and failed to adopt the Magistrate Judge's recommendation to uphold the project, which was grounded in sound reasoning and consistent with Ninth Circuit case law. These groups may celebrate the decision but it is only serving to divert limited agency resources away from solutions on the Custer-Galatin National Forest.

The South Plateau decision highlights a broader problem that demands attention from Congress. As long as a small minority can repeatedly use litigation to block responsible forest management the risks to communities wildlife and workers will continue to grow. Real forest management reforms are needed to rein in abusive anti-forestry lawsuits and allow science-based projects to move forward before the next fire makes the decision for us.

Tom Partin is the Montana representative for the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association advocating for active forest management on federal lands. Partin has worked in forestry in the Pacific Northwest for over 40 years.