League of Wilderness Defenders v. US Forest Service

Dec 11: In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Case No. 06-35780. In their suit under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), the League of Wilderness and a number of environmental groups (collectively, LOWD) sought declaratory and injunctive relief to halt the Deep Creek Vegetation Management Project (the Project), which called for the selective logging of 12.8 million board feet of timber in the Ochoco National Forest. LOWD claims in its suit that the United States Forest Service (Forest Service) failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), in developing and implementing the Project.

The district court denied LOWD’s motion for summary judgment and granted the Forest Service’s cross-motion for summary judgment. The Appeals Court ruled, "Because the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) may not tier to a non-NEPA watershed analysis to consider adequately the aggregate cumulative effects of past timber sales, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Forest Service, and we remand this case so the Forest Service can reissue its NEPA documentation to include the omitted information regarding past timber sales contained in the watershed analysis."

In its conclusion the Appeals Court said, "The Forest Service’s approval of the Project violates NEPA because the FSEIS may not tier to the non-NEPA Watershed Analysis to consider adequately the aggregate cumulative effects of past timber sales. We reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Forest Service, and we remand this case so the agency can reissue its NEPA documentation to include the omitted information regarding past timber sales contained in the Watershed Analysis. Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal."

Access the complete opinion (click here).