This Oregon magistrate judge’s decision (“findings and recommendations” that must be confirmed by full judge before they are effective) is sure to delight Jon and infuriate Sharon. The case challenges BLM’s proposal to “treat” 684,185 acres on the Medford District. Plaintiffs prevailed on most of their FLPMA and NEPA claims.
I recommend reading the full decision. It is not long and well-written. Here are a few highlights:
BLM’s argument, at its core, is that because its actions are not intended to aid the development of habitat, its actions do not need to comply with the standard that requires BLM’s actions aid the development of habitat That reasoning is
circular. If the prohibition on treatments that preclude or delay habitat development by 20 years or more only applies to treatments intended to accelerate habitat development, it would render the direction superfluous.
In simply electing its chosen alternative without fully exploring the conflicting research on the issue through a formal EIS, BLM effectively reduces its findings to only the
positive outcomes, while discounting the coinciding negative possibility that treatments would exacerbate forest fires.
BLM adopted an intentionally non-specific approach in the EA to allow the plans to proceed flexibly under a “programmatic”
framework. By design, the Program has an inherently high degree of uncertainty about the proximate environmental impacts of the approved program of work.
BLM tiers to a global EIS that omits any site-specific analysis and explicitly pushes review to later implementation-level projects. Yet, when faced with a later implementation-level project, like the Late Mungers Project, BLM relies on a DNA, a non-NEPA document which cannot substitute for NEPA analysis, to conclude no further NEPA analysis is required. In this way, site-specific analysis is never completed, and it breeds problems for public participation, transparency, and establishing any sort of concrete certainty as to impacts.
As to relief, the court notes the parties agree on the non-commercial treatments and asks them to seek a resolution of the commercial logging aspects in light of the court’s opinion.