美国联邦法官纳西·罗森斯坦格尔周一裁定，美国林务局必须暂停伊利诺伊州南部肖尼国家森林的商业采伐项目1。法官认为林务局在2024年10月批准该项目时违反了《濒危物种保护法》1。
法官指出，林务局在批准项目时未等待美国鱼类和野生动物管理局的最终生物学意见，该意见后来证实项目所在地是受联邦保护的印第安纳蝠的栖息地1。更为严重的是，林务局在2024年8月的内部评估中已经发现了印第安纳蝠的存在，但在项目批准文件中隐瞒了这一信息1。
截至法官发布临时制止令时，承包商已完成了67英亩项目地中的40英亩采伐工作1。
Federal Judge Nancy Rosenstengel ruled on Monday that the U.S. Forest Service must suspend a commercial logging operation in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, determining that the project's approval in October 2024 violated the Endangered Species Act.1 The Forest Service had authorized the project without awaiting the final biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which later confirmed that the project area serves as critical habitat for the federally protected Indiana bat.1 An internal Forest Service assessment from August 2024 had already identified the species and concluded that the logging would "likely adversely affect" the endangered species, yet this finding was omitted from the project approval documents.1
At the time the judge issued the temporary restraining order, contractors had already cleared 40 acres of the approximately 67-acre project site after beginning work in mid-August 2025.1 The judge lifted the restraining order eight days after issuing it, but the contractors have not returned to complete the work in the year since.1
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