A federal judge has halted a salvage logging project in northern Idaho at the request of two environmental groups that say it violates the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale on Thursday ruled the U.S. Forest Service cannot go ahead with the project near the Selway and Middle Fork Clearwater rivers that aims to harvest 34 million board feet of timber scorched by a 2014 wildfire.
The lightning-caused Johnson Bar Fire burned more than 20 square miles, mostly on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests.
Dale also ruled the Forest Service failed to do a supplemental study after 2015 wildfires burned near the planned logging.
Idaho Rivers United and Friends of the Clearwater sought the injunction ahead of logging scheduled to start as early as Monday.