United States Sixth Circuit

In plaintiff's suit against the United States Forest Service's (Service), claiming that the Service disregarded relevant criteria and failed to comply with several of its own regulations and federal statute in developing its management plan for national forests in Northern Michigan, district court's entry of judgment in favor of the Service is reversed in part and remanded where: 1) the Service has not complied with section 219.21(a)(2)'s requirements of a demand-supply analysis as the Service's estimates of snowmobile and cross-country visitors to the forests are arbitrary; 2) the Service has not complied with the requirement that it coordinate its recreational planning with that of the State of Michigan with the aim of reducing duplication in meeting recreation demands with respect to gun hunting and snowmobiling; 3) the Service's reasons for keeping pre-designation and club trails open to snowmobile use are arbitrary, and as such, the Service has not complied with section 219.21(g)'s mandate to minimize conflicts between off-road vehicle use and other uses and interests of the forests; and 4) the Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it failed to consider whether to close Prmitive and Semiprimitive Nonmotorized areas to gun hunting and snowmobile use, as plaintiff proposed.

Appellate Information

• Argued 03/08/2010
• Decided 09/29/2010
• Published 09/29/2010

Judges

• KETHLEDGE

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Kurt J. Meister, Brian C. Toth