A federal judge has blocked a western Montana logging project pending the resolution of a lawsuit over its potential environmental harm.
U.S. District Judge Susan Watters halted the Bureau of Land Management project in the Elkhorn Mountains near Townsend in a ruling last week. The agency wants to cut conifer trees on 7 square miles and burn another 2 square miles.
The project also called for allowing livestock grazing when other grazing allotments are unavailable due to circumstances such as drought or wildfire, the Independent Record reported.