A large logging project near Cooke City and an entrance to Yellowstone National Park has been scrubbed by the U. S. Forest Service after conservation groups challenged the federal government, saying it was using unproven methods at the risk of several endangered species. The Cooke City Fuels Project was withdrawn by the Forest Service and would have encompassed 19,921 acres. …The Forest Service would have removed other trees and brush around the endangered Whitebark Pine trees as a means to bolster their chances of survival. However, the conservation groups which challenged the project said that there was no scientific research validating the technique. …The lawsuit had also claimed that the Forest Service disregarded wide swaths of designated Canada lynx habitat. Also, the suit pointed out that increased logging activities and road building in the area would disrupt grizzly bear habitat.