Three organizations and an individual are suing the Gardiner District of the Custer Gallatin National Forest — for a plan they say hurts the already-endangered whitebark pine tree while ignoring lynx and grizzly habitat, and relying on unproven studies. The groups say the federal government is ignoring its rules and seems to be disregarding its own maps of protected lynx area in an effort to preserve the rare whitebark pine trees, despite admitting in its own documents that the efforts to preserve the trees could actually harm them. The lawsuit … centers on logging north of Yellowstone National Park. A technique, called “daylight thinning,” which involves removing trees near a whitebark pine, is not backed by scientific research according to the court documents, and the organizations point out that the Forest Service admits that in the process of thinning, it could actually wind up killing some of the whitebark pine trees. 

• Additional coverage in Bloomberg Law (subscription only): Logging Project Near Yellowstone Unlawfully Approved, Suit Says