ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA — Asheville-based nonprofit MountainTrue and others await responses from the U.S. Forest Service after filing a flurry of legal actions against the federal agency over its Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Plan. The latest lawsuit, submitted April 18, alleges that logging proposals in the forest plan could put endangered bats at risk, therefore violating the Endangered Species Act. (See previous Xpress coverage at avl.mx/dme.) Two other lawsuits filed since January focus on the Forest Service’s approach to its timber harvest program. The latest lawsuit, filed jointly by SELC, MountainTrue and four other conservation groups, argues that the USFS ignored its own research when drafting its 2023 Pisgah-Nantahala land management plan, showing that some specific timber projects would drastically harm the habitat and feeding grounds of four endangered bat species.