WildEarth Guardians v. National Park Service

Jan 9: In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, Case No. 11-1192. Appealed from the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. The Appeals Court explains that the appeal concerns WildEarth Guardians' challenge to the National Park Service's elk and vegetation management plan for Rocky Mountain National Park. WildEarth filed suit in Federal district court challenging the plan and the final environmental impact statement the National Park Service (NPS) prepared in conjunction with the plan. WildEarth contends the NPS violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to include the reintroduction of a naturally reproducing wolf population as one of the alternatives considered in the environmental impact statement. WildEarth also challenges the agency's proposal to allow volunteers to assist the agency in reducing the elk population.

 

    The district court affirmed the agency action, and WildEarth appealed. The Appeals Court ruled, "We find the record supports the agency's decision to exclude consideration of a natural wolf alternative from its environmental impact statement. We also find the agency's interpretation of the National Parks Organic Act and Rocky Mountain National Park Enabling Act persuasive, and that its elk management plan does not violate those statutes. Accordingly, exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm."

 

    The Appeals Court explains an underlying fact in the case that Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), located in northern Colorado, was established in 1915. The Rocky Mountain National Park Enabling Act (RMNP Act) bans hunting or killing wildlife within the park, with very limited exceptions. The park has always had a substantial elk population. But most elk predators, especially wolves and grizzly bears, were exterminated in the park area prior to its establishment, and Congress's decision to ban hunting in RMNP allowed the park's elk population to grow without constraint.

 

    WildEarth argues the natural wolf alternative fit the purpose and need of the proposed action, and thus required the NPS to consider it in an EIS. It argues the natural wolf alternative was practical. In particular, WildEarth points to studies, emails, and other documents in the record discussing the benefits of this alternative. The Appeals Court said, "While the record supports some benefits to a natural wolf option, that is not what guides us. What guides us is a rule of reason, where the agency explains its decision to take certain proposed options off the table because of a lack of practicality."

 

    The Appeals Court indicates that the NPS found the natural wolf alternative would be impractical despite some marginal upside, and the record supports that decision. For example, wolf reintroduction may have been successful in Yellowstone and Banff, but the record reflects that those parks are not a good comparator for RMNP. The NPS determined RMNP has relatively little suitable wolf habitat due to its small size and abundance of steep, high-altitude terrain, which wolves dislike. And as a consequence of the lack of habitat and wolves' natural tendency to disperse, NPS experts predicted that any wolves in RMNP would be very likely to leave the park boundaries, prompting conflicts with neighboring communities. Such conflicts would likely include predation on livestock and pets.

 

    The Appeals Court concluded, "The record reflects that the NPS's elk management plan is meant to control the number of elk in RMNP. Elk will not be killed when they are within the target range. Culls will be closely supervised by NPS employees. Some cullers may enjoy the experience, but this is irrelevant so long as they kill elk for management purposes pursuant to the procedures and supervision of the NPS. The primary purpose of hunting is not for controlling a population of detrimental animals but for food and sport. Because the purpose of the NPS's plan is to control the population of the park's elk and their effect on vegetation, it is distinguishable from hunting, regardless of whether members of the public volunteer to participate in culls."

 

    However, the Appeals Court noted in a footnote, "In reaching this holding, we do not mean to suggest that the NPS may authorize hunting in RMNP simply by covering it with the fig leaf of population control. As discussed, § 198c unambiguously bars anyone from hunting in RMNP. The culls contemplated by the NPS in its management plan will be tightly controlled and are sufficiently distinct from hunting that they do not run afoul of § 198c's restriction. But § 198c would clearly prevent the NPS from

creating a scheme similar to a state-regulated hunt by, for example, selling tags to licensed hunters and allowing them to freely roam the park every autumn to shoot elk, even if the agency's reason for doing so was to reduce RMNP's elk population."

 

    Access the complete opinion (click here). [#Wildlife, #CA10]

 

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