Broads Can’t Fit Through Narrow 9th Circuit Gate

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Here’s the link and below is an excerpt.

What I found interesting about this (lost in news tranlation?) was the idea that they could have gone all the way to the Appeals Court without noting “any specific changes that it deems not adequately analyzed.”

Legal experts on this blog. is is really possible that the case got all the way to the appeals court before someone noticed this? There must be more to this story…

Four years later the agency issued a decision and an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a plan to restore the road, and Great Old Broads filed a new challenge to the project in federal court. The group alleged that the project design violated the National Forest Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws.
Finding that Great Old Broads had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies before filing the action, the District Court granted the Forest Service summary judgment. Great Old Broads went back to the 9th Circuit on appeal but came up empty-handed Monday.
A three-judge panel disagreed with the lower court as to exhaustion, but nonetheless found that the group’s claims failed on their merits.
“Great Old Broads points to no specific changes that it deems not adequately analyzed in the final EIS,” Ronald Gould wrote for the San Francisco-based court.

7 thoughts on “Broads Can’t Fit Through Narrow 9th Circuit Gate”

  1. Ahhh yes! The great Wise-Use “bucket brigade!” Damn those endangered bull trout!

    I’m not sure how we can discuss this case with also highlighting some of the history of how the court case even came to being. While the Court ruled that the USFS didn’t violate the law repairing the washed-out South Canyon Road over the Jarbidge River, the federal and state government also took some exception to what Elko County and the “bucket brigade” did.

    Here’s some info from the article, which should also be highlighted, in my opinion:

    “At one point, Elko County sent crews to repair the road, claiming a need to access the area to fight forest fires. The crews ended up damaging stream habitat of the threatened Jarbidge bull trout and were called off by state authorities. At other times, “bucket brigades” of local citizens tried to fix the road, leading to federal trespassing charges and a complaint against Elko County for the damages done by its road crews.”

    Reply

  2. Could be a procedural issue. I need some more info to be able to find it in the WestLaw database. Who were they suing at the district ct level? Were there other plaintiffs?

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  3. Craig, so I will grant you that I am not an expert at finding legal things. Fortunately, when I worked for the FS I had excellent people I could ask.

    I did do a brief internet search and couldn’t find anything.

    Then I went to the Great Old Broad for Wilderness website here but I couldn’t find anything either. I did like that they prominently post their 990’s. Here is what they claimed as service for this year but it didn’t mention their legal work..

    Great Old Broads for Wilderness is a non-profit public lands advocacy organization that uses the voices and activism of elders to preserve, protect and advocate for wilderness and wild lands.
    Broads Healthy Lands Project is our flagship project. We train individuals in public lands impact data collection protocols, process and archive the data, and store the information in a digital database that is accessible on the internet. We collaborate with many partner groups across the west to provide factual
    information to improve land management with particular emphasis on the current agency resource management and travel management plans. Monitoring events included an Indian creek, UT 3 day training workshop for 25 volunteer citizen activists to document impacts of off-road vehicle impacts on public lands and to gather
    data for informed comment on Resource Management and Travel Plan proposals.
    Please see out annual report for more details.

    Wilderness-We organized “Broadwalks” in support of proposed wilderness and performed volunteer service projects at several locations. Encouraged public attendence at meetings, letters and calls to decisionmakers, engaged in collaborative efforts for wilderness and wildlands protection, analysed and commented on relevant agency proposed actions, provide specifically prepared bulletins and research
    on wilderness topics. We have trained and organized local Broadbands to engage in advocacy for wild lands in their own backyards, organize activist training workshops and volunteer projects. We establish personal relationships with agency personal in order to better express the organization’s goals for management of wild and roadless public lands. Wherever possible, we brought humor, experience and wisdom to our undertakings. Please see our annual report for more information.

    Public Education – Publication of Quarterly newsletter distributed to over 4000 members. E-alerts to members and website that informs on various wilderness issues, media interviews, letters to editors and staff appearances before civic and recreational groups.
    Trainings – Individuals were trained in monitoring grazing, ORV impacts and wilderness inventory techniques on public lands. We are part of the Tushar Collaboration in Utah seeking to improve Forest Service grazing management, wildlife habitat and general biodiversity on the Beaver Ranger District and other Utah Forests.

    Note: we could adopt their goal of bringing humor, experience and wisdom to the NCFP undertaking…

    Reply

  4. Ted, thank you so much, this is very helpful. I looked at the Great Old Broads 990s for 2010 and 2011 and it shows no work on legal cases under their work, nor paying any attorneys.

    So I guess Earthjustice are the attorneys based on this
    http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=In%20FCO%2020130304116.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR
    So the Great Old Broads were in the settlement agreement meetings, but didn’t actually pay anyone for their legal defense?
    This is a bit confusing to track..

    Reply

    • I can’t speak for Great Old Broads’s 990s. Earthjustice is a non-profit, pro bono law firm; we don’t charge clients for legal services. That may explian why they don’t show legal expenses.

      Reply

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