Federal judge halts timber sale over outdated steelhead data

LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A large timber sale in north-central Idaho has been put on hold because a federal judge says the agencies that approved the deal failed to consider the latest information on steelhead numbers.

The Lewiston Tribune reports U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill made the ruling Wednesday.

He says the U.S. Forest Service and National Marine Fisheries Service didn’t take into account new data that showed the numbers of threatened steelhead were at a 25-year-low when they approved the timber sale in parts of the Upper Lolo, Musselshell, Middle Lolo and Eldorado creek watersheds.

The project includes clear-cut-like practices and is expected to produce 44 million board feet of timber.