Marking at least a temporary victory for the Nez Perce Tribe and environmental activists, a federal judge on Friday halted shipments of giant tar sands equipment dubbed ‘megaloads’ that pass through a national forest in Idaho.

The ruling is a continuation of a three-year battle to protect “a scenic Idaho roadway that cuts through the homeland of the Nez Perce Tribe and runs alongside two federally protected rivers,” Reuters reports.

“This is a win for all who cherish the esthetic, spiritual and recreational values of the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers,” Kevin Lewis, Conservation Director of Idaho Rivers United, which filed the lawsuit along with the Nez Perce to stop the shipments, said in a statement.

The equipment supplier is a subsidiary of General Electric, which filed as co-defendent along with the Forest Service.

The loads of equipment are over 250 feet long and weigh over 640,000 pounds.

“To allow a shipment with that potential to proceed before consulting with the Tribe is likely an abdication of statutory responsibilities,” Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill of Federal District Court in Boise wrote in his preliminary injunction order.