No logging will take place on MacDonald Pass this winter as part of the creation of a biathlon course by the Montana Army National Guard.

Last month, Helena District Ranger Duane Harp met with loggers to go over the timber sale, which is on the Helena National Forest, and the Guard has flagged where the course will be located.

However, Harp and the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against the government in November agreed to ask a federal court judge for an expedited summary judgment in the case.

"We hope this will speed up the process and we can have a decision by July," Harp said on Monday. "So what I've committed to is no ground disturbance until we get a decision."

He added that the Guard is continuing to secure necessary permits from the state and Army Corps of Engineers, including a new entrance to the parcel from Highway 12 West. They're also moving forward with parts of the timber sale, including a survey of the property and laying out the course.

"It is our intention to continue with the project," said Dan Bushnell, Guard spokesperson. "We will continue to work cooperatively with all local, state and

federal agencies as this moves forward."

Mike Garrity, one of the people who filed the lawsuit to halt the course's construction, was pleased to hear the Forest Service wasn't going ahead with the plan to log the land this winter.

"The last thing we wanted is for them to go forward with the logging, then have a judge rule in our favor. Then we'd have a road going into a clearcut for a project that no longer exists," Garrity said. "If they hadn't agreed to hold off on the logging, we would have gone to the judge and asked for a temporary restraining order."

Garrity, who is the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Missoula along with the Helena Hunters and Anglers, the Native Ecosystems Council and American Wildlands.

The groups say the course is within a narrow, 1.5-mile strip of public lands, bordered on either side by private property, and the biathlon course would impact wildlife traveling through this "corridor" between Yellowstone and northern wilderness areas -- including animals on list covered by the Endangered Species Act.

They claim the U.S. Forest Service violated national environmental laws in approving the biathlon project and are asking a federal judge to issue an injunction setting aside the decision that authorized the course.

They also want an injunction prohibiting work relating to the construction of the biathlon project, including the proposed timber harvest.

The lawsuit names both the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture as defendants.

It's been five years since the Guard first proposed the course on 31 acres on the northwest side of MacDonald Pass.

Biathletes are cross-country skiers who race, while occasionally stopping to shoot at targets. The Guard trains biathletes to compete in the Olympics.

The biathlon course is within the Helena National Forest boundary, and Forest Supervisor Kevin Riordan issued a 25-year permit in June 2008 to the Guard for the course. The project includes 10 miles of trails, 4,700 square feet of buildings, and four months of use, including one event in July, plus numerous competitions and training in December, January and February.

Initial estimates put the cost at $1.5 million.

In his decision, Riordan noted the course is near a major highway a cross-country ski trail already exists in the area, and he said adding to the course won't have a significant impact on wildlife.

The project is supported by some members of the Helena community, who note that the Guard has promised to enhance the existing course used by hundreds of people during the winter, as well as allow the public to use the biathlon course when competitions and training aren't taking place.

Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com