United States Ninth Circuit

In a challenge to a Forest Service rule repealing the nationwide protections of its Roadless Rule and inviting states to pursue varying rules for roadless area management, judgment for plaintiffs is affirmed where it was unreasonable for the Forest Service to assert that the environment, listed species, and their critical habitats would be unaffected by this regulatory change.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/20/2008
• Decided 08/05/2009
• Published 08/05/2009

Judges

• BEEZER, Circuit Judge:, Before ROBERT R. BEEZER, JAY S. BYBEE, and CARLOS T. BEA, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Bruce A. Salsburg, Jay Jerde, and Robert A. Nicholas, Office of the Wyoming Attorney General, for amicus curiae State of Wyoming., Mick McGrath and Candace F. West, Office of the Montana Attorney General, Helena, MT, for amicus curiae State of Montana., G. Steven Rowe and Mark Randlet, Office of the Maine Attorney General, Augusta, ME, for amicus curiae State of Maine.


• For Appellees:
  
• Edmund G. Brown, Jr., and Claudia Polsky, California Department of Justice, Oakland, CA, for plaintiff-appellee State of California., Hardy Myers, Mary H. Williams, and David E. Leith, Office of the Oregon Attorney General, Salem, OR, for plaintiff-appellee State of Oregon., Rob McKenna, Mary Sue Wilson, Joan M. Marchioro, and Sheila Lynch, Office of the Washington Attorney General, Olympia, WA, for plaintiff-appellee State of Washington., Gary King, Stephen Farris, and Judith Ann Moore, Office of the New Mexico Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for plaintiff-appellee State of New Mexico., Kristen L. Boyles, Earthjustice, Seattle, WA, Timothy J. Preso, Earthjustice, Bozeman, MT, and Thomas S. Waldo, Earthjustice, Juneau, AK, for plaintiff-appellees The Wilderness Society, California Wilderness Coalition, Forests Forever Foundation, Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Wild, Sitka Conservation Society, Siskiyou Regional Education Project, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Pacific Rivers Council, Idaho Conservation League, Humane Society of the United States, Conservation NW and Greenpeace., Ronald J. Tenpas, David C. Shilton, and John L. Smeltzer, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the defendant-appellant United States Department of Agriculture and United States Forest Service., Paul A. Turcke and Carl J. Withroe, Moore Smith Buxton & Turcke, Chtd., Boise, ID, for the defendant-intervenor-appellants California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, United Four Wheel Drive Associations, American Council of Snowmobile Associations and the BlueRibbon Coalition., Scott W. Horngren, Haglund Kelley Horngren Jones & Wilder, LLP, Portland, OR, and Dennis M. Wilson, Wilson Law, Sacramento, CA, for defendant-appellant-intervenor Silver Creek Timber Company.