Group files to block timber cut

BOISE(AP) - A conservation group has filed a lawsuit in federal court to block a logging project planned near Priest Lake.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed the lawsuit this week challenging a U.S. Forest Service decision to harvest timber in parts of more than 29,300 acres in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.

The acreage is located near Nordman, on the west side of Priest Lake.

The lawsuit claims the project is in three watersheds listed by the state as impaired waters. It also alleges that logging and burning would wipe out or damage hundreds of acres of habitat for lynx, fishers, grizzly bears and goshawks.

The group's director Michael Garrity says the forest service has failed to properly consider the potential impact logging would have on species and water resources.