Federal Judge Strikes Down Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest Plan

In April, a federal judge struck down the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to expand logging in the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, finding it violated the Endangered Species Act.

The 2023 USFS plan, more than a decade in the making, would have allowed five times more logging across the two forests, some of Western North Carolina’s most important public lands that cover more than 1 million acres.

In 2024, a coalition of environmental groups represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center sued, arguing the plan failed to account for habitat destruction that could push four endangered bat species closer to extinction.

Plaintiffs also said the plan ignored the loss of 187,000 acres of trees on public land during Hurricane Helene, and required major revisions. As a result of the ruling, the Forest Service

must now manage the forests under its 1994 plan, which complies with the law.