ASHEVILLE – A federal court ruled March 31 that the U.S. Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act in creating its 2023 Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Management Plan by relying on a faulty analysis, according to an April 1 news release from the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife. In a “major victory for wildlife,” the ruling issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, effectively voids the plan — which took 10 years to create — and prohibits the U.S. Forest Service from relying on the plan to guide forest management. The original complaint was filed April 18, 2024 by the Southern Environmental Law Center … against the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. …Will Harlan, the Center for Biological Diversity’s southeast director, called the ruling “a massive victory for wildlife,” and said the decision could have ripple effects across how national forests are managed nationwide.