United States Ninth Circuit

In an action challenging the United States Forest Service’s (Forest Service) decision to thin 277 acres of old-growth forest in the Mission Brush Project area, located in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest (IPNF), claiming that the Project violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) the Forest Service reasonably relied on the 10%-old-growth standard as set forth in the IPNF Plan; and 2) it was within the Forest Service’s discretion to rely on its own data and to discount the alternative evidence proffered by petitioner.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/28/2010
• Published 12/28/2010

Judges

• Milan D. Smith

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Thomas J. Woodbury, Ignacia S. Moreno