The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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Here’s the Forest Service summary: Litigation Weekly April 10_2020_Final_Email COURT DECISIONS 000001_Bark v US 9th Cir Order The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the Forest Service’s decision to not prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Crystal Clear Restoration Project on Mount Hood National Forest was arbitrary and capricious – as described in … Read more
Forest Service summaries: Litigation Weekly March 06_2020 Email COURT DECISIONS 00001_Bailey The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an Order in favor of the Forest Service concerning amenities at the Marsh Branch Boat Launching Facility in the Daniel Boone National Forest. This was an attempt by an individual to compel the Forest Service to repair … Read more
FSEEE v. USFS Court decision: The 9th Circuit held that the Olympic National Forest decision to grant a special use permit to the Navy for electronic warfare training was consistent with the forest plan, after allowing documents outside of the administrative record that showed they had considered the availability of private land. Greater Hells Canyon … Read more
The Forest Service summaries are here: Litigation Weekly January 10, 2020_Final Email They have not attached any supporting documents this time, but the summaries are longer. I’ve added a short overview here. COURT DECISIONS Idaho Conservation League and Greater Yellowstone Coalition v. U.S. Forest Service, et al. (D. Idaho) The district court remanded the decision … Read more
Forest Service summaries: 000000_2019_10_25_Litigation Weekly COURT DECISIONS 000001_Alliance for Wild Rockies v. Leanne Marten_Tenmile_Region 1 The district court denied the plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction sought for the Tenmile South Helena Timber Management Project on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. (D. Mont.) LITIGATION UPDATE 000002_Wildearth Guardians v USFWS USFS_MSO_Region 3 The district court approved … Read more
Forest Service summaries: 2019_09_18 and 25_Litigation Weekly_Email COURT DECISIONS 00001_WildEarth Guardians v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service_Region 3 The district court invalidated the biological opinion on Mexican spotted owls prepared by the FWS for forest plans for the Lincoln, Santa Fe, Cibola, Carson, and Gila National Forests in New Mexico, and the Tonto National … Read more
I couldn’t find the project files for the Gatton’s Park fuels treatment project in the Upper Mimbres Valley on the Gila National Forest, but it seemed like it has a lot of features that make it a good example of how to not get sued – The Nature Conservancy received an initial Collaborative Forest Restoration … Read more
For those who have been missing this (click links for more) … Atlantic Coast Pipeline Update: The energy companies wanting to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline across the George Washington and Monongahela National Forests are appealing a reversal of that decision to the U. S. Supreme Court. The 4th Circuit Court of appeals held that … Read more
This op-ed is nothing new from Chad Hanson, but here goes anyhow…. “The U.S. Forest Service recently proposed a sweeping effort to identify aspects of environmental analysis and public participation to be “reduced” or “eliminated” regarding commercial logging projects in our national forests, with initial public comments due Friday. The Trump administration is attempting to … Read more
The case of the Mount Graham red squirrel seems to be another example of where everyone agrees that fuel treatments make sense. According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, loss of habitat to fire is the primary threat to this species. The draft recovery plan was revised in 2011 largely due to unanticipated … Read more