United States Ninth Circuit

In an action challenging the United States Forest Service's decision to designate over two million acres of public land in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest for use by winter motorized vehicles, the district court's judgment regarding the challenge under the National Environmental Policy Act is: 1) affirmed in part, where the Environmental Impact Statement sufficiently analyzed the impacts of snowmobiles on non-motorized recreational uses throughout the Revised Forest Plan area; and 2) reversed in part as to grant of summary judgment to the Government, where the Environmental Impact Statement did not provide the public adequate access to information about the impact of snowmobiles on big game wildlife and habitat and did not allow the public to play a role in the decision making process. The district court's judgment regarding the challenge to the Forest Service's compliance with Executive Order 11644 is: 1) reversed as to ruling that the Forest Service adequately applied the minimization criteria in the Travel Management Rule; and 2) affirmed where plaintiffs' challenge to the Subpart C exemption in the Travel Management Rule, which exempted over-snow vehicles from compliance with the minimization criteria, was not ripe for review because the Forest Service did not apply Subpart C to justify its actions in this case.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/22/2015
• Published 06/22/2015

Judges

• Paez

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel