John,

On the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park, the Custer Gallatin National Forest provides habitat for abundant wildlife, including rare species. But the forest — and the ecosystem of nearby Yellowstone Park — are threatened by a massive logging project called South Plateau that would clearcut more than 4,000 football fields of pine forests, most of them mature trees, and bulldoze up to 57 miles of “temporary” roads.

Speak up to save the trees and the wildlife who call the forest their home.

The project would destroy and fragment secure habitat for species including imperiled lynx and grizzly bears, as well as increasing the potential for poaching and other harmful human-bear interactions. 

The proposal also flies in the face of President Biden’s executive order stating that mature and old-growth forests are critical to the health, prosperity and resilience of our communities. These forests must be defended because, in the president’s own words, they “provide clean air and water, sustain the plant and animal life fundamental to combating the global climate and biodiversity crises, and hold special importance to Tribal Nations.”

The U.S. Forest Service has a clear obligation to protect imperiled wildlife and our climate by conserving mature forests — not clearcutting them. It must reject the South Plateau project.