High Sierra Hikers Ass'n v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior

• Decision Date: 24 January 2012
• Docket Number: No. C 09–04621 RS.,C 09–04621 RS.
• Citation: 848 F.Supp.2d 1036
• Parties: HIGH SIERRA HIKERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California

848 F.Supp.2d 1036

HIGH SIERRA HIKERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff,

v.UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR, et al., Defendants.

No. C 09–04621 RS.

United States District Court,

N.D. California,

San Francisco Division.

Jan. 24, 2012.

Alison Margaret Tucher, Barbara Nora Barath, Geoffrey R. Pittman, Nathaniel Bryan Sabri, Shaye Diveley, William Francis Tarantino, Morrison & Foerster LLP, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiff.

Charles Ray Shockey, U.S. Department of Justice, Sacramento, CA, Michael Thomas Pyle, United States Attorney's Office, San Francisco, CA, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART CROSS–MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

RICHARD SEEBORG, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This case challenges administrative actions and land management practices which allegedly impact the level of stock use in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (“SEKI”). Plaintiff High Sierra Hikers Association (“HSHA”) asserts that defendants violated both the Wilderness Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) by issuing a General Management Plan (“GMP”) which permits the use of horses and mules in wilderness areas without conducting the proper environmental assessment of the impact of such stock use. The parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part as is defendants' cross-motion for summary judgment. In issuing the Packer Permits and approving the GMP, the NPS violated the Wilderness Act by failing to conduct the requisite specialized finding, but complied with NEPA by fulfilling the Act's procedural requirements.

II. RELEVANT FACTS

The National Park Service (“NPS”) jointly administers SEKI as a single unit of the National Park System under a Congressional mandate to protect the parks and comply with the provisions of NEPA and the Wilderness Act. See16 U.S.C. §§ 41, 43, 80. While NEPA applies throughout SEKI, the Wilderness Act provides extra protection to the parks' designated wilderness areas. Over the past forty years, the NPS has issued a number of management plans for SEKI. It presented the SEKI Master Plan (“MP”) in 1971 with the stated objective, among others, to “phase[ ] out as conditions permit” the use of livestock in the higher elevations for any purpose. (GMP 000310). This objective, based on the NPS's concern over “damage resulting from livestock,” was never implemented. ( Id.). Notably, the MP did not meet the requirements of a general management plan and was developed absent public involvement. According to the GMP, the MP is therefore outdated with recommendations for “some actions [which] are no longer appropriate.” (GMP 0020243).

Over a decade after issuance of the MP, the NPS approved two new plans, the Stock Use and Meadow Management Plan (“SUMMP”), and the Backcountry Management Plan (“BMP”). These plans were prepared with public input and accompanied by Environmental Assessments (“EAs”). They limited stock to twenty per party and provided a number of management practices to mitigate the adverse effects of stock use. The parties largely dispute the breadth and impact of these plans. The HSHA contends that neither plan made the requisite findings of necessity to permit commercial stock in SEKI. In this regard, plaintiff asserts that the SUMMP and the BMP merely presented a few general practices and did little to mitigate the impact of stock usage. Consequently,the plans' inadequate monitoring systems only provided means for the NPS to alter stock levels in response to destructive impacts.

Defendants contest this analysis, arguing that both plans are fully NEPA compliant and provide detailed guidance for protecting meadows and managing stock use. For support, defendants describe each plan's effects in detail: The SUMMP implemented a policy change from the MP by no longer seeking to phase out stock use at upper elevations. Additionally, the SUMMP established specific protections for park meadows and delineated permissible grazing areas. As a final measure, the SUMMP created an elaborate monitoring program to scrutinize the impact of stock grazing on the park meadows. The BMP, alternatively, focused on the backcountry areas of SEKI, asserting as one of its management objectives, the allowance “to the extent possible—pack and saddle stock ... at the same levels and patterns that have occurred in recent past years unless information from the monitoring system indicates need for change.” (GMP 0027935). Together, defendants maintain that the plans provide “a sound scientific base” for managing stock use. Defendants also note that in 1994, SEKI engaged a full-time plant ecologist to oversee the SUMMP and to summarize monitoring results. In conjunction with the various monitoring programs carried out by both the wilderness rangers and the commercial and administrative users, defendants insist that the SEKI staff and management team have a sound scientific base on which to ground meadow-related resource protection decisions.

A. The General Management Plan

In 1997, the NPS began preparing the GMP at issue. The agency drafted an Environmental Impact Study (“EIS”), held public hearings, received public comment, and issued a Final EIS which became the 2007 GMP. The GMP's stated purpose “is to establish a vision for what Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks should be, including desired future conditions for natural and cultural resources, as well as visitor experiences.” (GMP 0020269). Importantly, it adopted the Draft EIS's Preferred Alternative of allowing stock use up to “current levels.” (GMP 0020247). Defendants emphasize that the GMP simply offers a broad programmatic direction for SEKI, providing guidelines to park management not only on stock use, but also on matters ranging from light pollution to visitor accessibility—issues largely unrelated to stock. In support of the assertion that the GMP is simply a programmatic document, defendants invoke language from the Record of Decision (“ROD”) which implemented the GMP. The ROD stated that, following the GMP, a stock-related Wilderness Stewardship Plan (“WSP”) “will be developed—with formal opportunities for review and comment as well as informal public meetings—to regulate use and protect wilderness values ... [N]o installation of new structures nor any new commercial activities will be undertaken until after [the WSP's] approval.” (GMP 0021661–62). Consistent with this assertion, the NPS published a Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS for the WSP on April 26, 2011, characterizing the goal as “an implementation level plan, [that] will provide guidance on a variety of issues including ... stock use.” 76 Fed.Reg. 23335. From this language, defendants insist that the GMP is not the implementation plan. Rather it simply provides guidelines without affecting stock levels in any way. Only upon completion of the WSP, they argue, will the NPS determine whether substantial changes to stock use are necessary.

The HSHA disagrees with defendants' characterization of the GMP as a programmatic document. Rather, it asserts that the GMP not only continues stock use at “unidentified” current levels, but also provides for the expansion and enhancement of facilities for stock users. The GMP thus cannot be characterized as a programmatic plan, but rather an implementation plan with site-specific effects. The HSHA further contends that the NPS's assurances that it will conduct the requisite needs assessment in a future, more specific WSP is unreliable and insufficient to demonstrate that the NPS has complied with either the Wilderness Act or NEPA. Based on these facts, plaintiff filed an action asserting that defendants violated the Wilderness Act and NEPA in adopting the GMP without adequately assessing environmental impacts.¹

B. Packer Permits

The HSHA also claims that defendants violated the Wilderness Act and NEPA by continuing to issue Packer Permits without first developing more stringent environmental protections in either the GMP or in an alternative plan. Packer Permits refer collectively to the commercial use authorizations (CUAs) granted annually to stock operators and to the renewal permit issued to the one stock operator located in the parks. Before SEKI staff can issue a CUA, the requesting commercial operator must submit proprietary information about the business and agree to certain conditions. One such condition is a commitment to adhere to the stock use restrictions established both by the SUMMP and the conditions of that particular year. The specific restrictions for each year are derived from a compilation of monitoring data, employee observation, stock use reports, and an evaluation of overall meadow conditions. The HSHA insists that these procedures are deficient and constitute an “about-face” of the NPS's original promise to conduct additional environmental study before renewing any permits. Relying on twenty-year-old EAs conducted for the SUMMP and the BMP, plaintiff contends, is insufficient under both the Wilderness Act and NEPA. Furthermore, according to plaintiff, the NPS cannot escape liability by insisting that the requisite “more extensive review and analysis” for issuing permits in upcoming years will occur in the detailed WSP.

Plaintiff brings a motion for summary judgment asserting that the NPS violated: (1) The Wilderness Act by issuing Packer Permits and approving the GMP without conducting the type of specialized finding required under the Act; and (2) NEPA by issuing Packer Permits and approving the GMP before adequately assessing the environmental impacts of the increase in stock use. Defendants respond with a cross-motion for summary judgment asserting that the GMP is a programmatic document and part of a tiered planning approach and that they are therefore permitted to defer both specialized findings and a full environmental impact assessment as to stock use until a later stage....