Bull Trout Lawsuit Targets Payette National Forest Roads

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An environmental group has filed a lawsuit contending two federal agencies are violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to analyze how roads and motorized trails could be harming threatened bull trout in the Payette National Forest in west-central Idaho.

The federal lawsuit filed by WildEarth Guardians in Idaho on Wednesday seeks to force the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete an analysis that could result in restrictions on roads and motorized trails.

Specifically, the group contends the 2007 travel management plan for the Payette National Forest needs updating following Fish and Wildlife's 2010 designation of critical bull trout habitat within the forest. The group is asking a federal judge to order the two agencies to do necessary work to update the travel plan.