Editing Large Binocular Telescope (section)

=== Mountain controversy ===
[[File:LBT Pinaleno Mountains.40936.JPG|thumb|upright=1.25|LBT perched on an Arizona mountain]]

The choice of location sparked considerable local controversy, both from the [[San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation|San Carlos Apache Tribe]], who view the mountain as sacred, and from environmentalists who contended that the observatory would cause the demise of an endangered subspecies of the American red squirrel, the [[Mount Graham red squirrel]]. Environmentalists and members of the tribe filed some forty lawsuits&nbsp;– eight of which went before a federal appeals court&nbsp;– but the project ultimately prevailed after an act of the [[United States Congress]].{{cn|reason=Citations needed for all facts/claims in this paragraph, please|date=November 2024}}

The telescope and mountain observatory survived two major forest fires in thirteen years, the more recent in the summer of 2017. Likewise the squirrels continue to survive. Some experts now believe their numbers fluctuate dependent upon nut harvest without regard to the observatory.<ref>
{{cite web
 |title       = The Mt. Graham Red Squirrel
 |website     = medusa.as.arizona.edu
 |date        = 2000-05-24
 |url         = http://medusa.as.arizona.edu/graham/envir.html
 |access-date  = 2010-04-25
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080324012620/http://medusa.as.arizona.edu/graham/envir.html
 |archive-date = 2008-03-24
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | title= Mount Graham red squirrel fall 2005 count announced
 | publisher= Arizona Game and Fish Department
 | date= Nov 17, 2005
 | url= http://www.azgfd.gov/artman/publish/article_423.shtml
 | access-date= 2010-04-25
 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100201074944/http://www.azgfd.gov/artman/publish/article_423.shtml
 | archive-date= 2010-02-01
 | url-status= dead
 }}</ref>