Triumph at Targhee

by Kelly Matheson & Sanjay Narayan, Attorney, Earthjustice

In a ruling on August 8, Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill prohibited the U.S. Forest Service from moving forward with a controversial land exchange on the west slope of the Tetons. Judge Winmill ruled that the Forest Service misled the public about the environmental damage that could result from the Grand Targhee-Squirrel Meadows land exchange, violating the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Forest Service's projections of development at Grand Targhee Ski and Summer Resort, according to the court, were akin to "ignoring the Rocky Mountains in evaluating the odds that Lewis and Clark would reach the Pacific Ocean."

The court's action came in response to a lawsuit filed by WOC and five other community and conservation groups. Judge Winmill's order prevents the Targhee National Forest from delivering 120 acres of publicly owned land at the base of Grand Targhee Ski and Summer Resort to GT Acquisition, a private developer, unless and until the Forest Service fixes its flawed environmental analysis.

In his ruling, Judge Winmill found that the Forest Service failed to reveal the true environmental impacts of the land exchange by putting a "thumb on the scales" and glossing over the substantial development at Grand Targhee Resort that would be propelled by the exchange. The agency's projections of development at the ski resort, according to the court, were akin to "ignoring the Rocky Mountains in evaluating the odds that Lewis and Clark would reach the Pacific Ocean."

In response, the Forest Service has vowed to conduct additional environmental analysis that will justify the land exchange, but conservationists and community groups will continue to push the Forest Service to drop the swap.