It’s taken two long years of litigation to force the U.S. Forest Service to follow the law, but at long last the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Yellowstone to Uintas Connection have been rewarded with a hard-fought victory in their legal challenge against the proposed Crow Creek natural gas pipeline that was to run in from Bear Lake County, Idaho, to Afton, Wyoming.

The government had authorized a private fossil fuel company to clear-cut and build a pipeline right through the middle of six Inventoried Roadless Areas on publicly owned National Forest lands.The pipeline was so inconsistent with the existing Forest Plan that governs use of these public lands that the agency changed the management plan for the entire National Forest for the benefit of one private fossil fuel company. In essence, the federal taxpayers who own these public lands would have been forced to subsidize the profit margin of a private natural gas company at the expense of the climate, public lands and endangered wildlife.

Adding insult to injury, the six Inventoried Roadless Areas the pipeline would have crossed are now being considered for wilderness designation in Congress under the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, H.R. 1755 and S. 1276.

What we accomplished in this case is unprecedented — after two long years of going through all the required legal hoops, as soon as we filed our opening brief, the government canceled the project without even waiting for a final court order. We have never seen this in a legal challenge to a pipeline before and it means there is no possibility for an appeal that would reverse the decision — this win is here to stay. Not only did the government cancel the pipeline, it also made a legally-binding commitment with us to require a full environmental analysis before the pipeline could ever be brought back from the dead.

This is a huge victory for the climate as well as free-roaming endangered species like grizzly bears, wolverines and lynx.

Since time immemorial, native wildlife including grizzly bears, lynx and wolverines have inhabited and traveled the higher elevation connections between the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Utah’s Uinta Mountains. In the midst of the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs, this unique area provides a crucial link between the Northern and Southern Rocky Mountains and must be protected and managed as a wildlife corridor for our endangered wildlife species.

Despite the incredible value of this wild place, in 2019 the U.S. Forest Service authorized the construction of the pipeline that included clear-cutting a 50-foot-wide corridor through 20 miles of National Forest lands and six Inventoried Roadless Areas. The Forest Service decision allowed the private company to clearcut a 50-foot right-of-way during construction and maintain a permanent 20-foot cleared right-of-way to service the pipeline — including above-ground facilities such as valves and staging areas.

In addition to the increased harm to the climate, the pipeline would have increased illegal wildlife killings, invasive noxious weeds infestations and illegal motorized use in the service corridor and adjoining areas. The rare and endangered species in this area include lynx, grizzly bears, wolverines, Ute ladies’ tresses orchid and yellow-billed cuckoo, as well as the critically-imperiled greater sage grouse, which is experiencing significant declines in this area.

This is not just a win for us. One less pipeline is a win for the planet and future generations.

Please consider helping us in our fight to protect the wildlands of the Northern Rockies.

Mike Garrity is the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.