Idaho Conservation League v. Guzman

• Decision Date: 04 February 2011
• Docket Number: Case No. CV 4:10–26–E–REB.
• Parties: IDAHO CONSERVATION LEAGUE and The Wilderness Society, Plaintiffs,v.Frank V. GUZMAN, Forest Supervisor of the Salmon–Challis National Forest, in his official capacity, and the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Idaho

766 F.Supp.2d 1056

IDAHO CONSERVATION LEAGUE and The Wilderness Society, Plaintiffs,

v.Frank

v. GUZMAN, Forest Supervisor of the Salmon–Challis National Forest, in his official capacity, and the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture, Defendants.

Case No. CV 4:10–26–E–REB.

United States District Court, D. Idaho.

Feb. 4, 2011.

Kevin E. Regan, Todd D. True, Earthjustice, Seattle, WA, Lauren M. Rule, Advocates for the West, Boise, ID, for Plaintiffs.Brian M. Collins, U.S. Department of Justice Enrd, Washington, DC, Paul A. Turcke, Carl J. Withroe, Moore Smith Buxton & Turcke, Chtd., Boise, ID, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER ON CROSS–MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

RONALD E. BUSH, United States Magistrate Judge.

Currently pending before the Court are: Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 38) and Defendants' Cross–Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 45). All parties consented to the jurisdiction of a United States Magistrate Judge. See Docket No. 20. The Court has carefully reviewed the record, including the briefing submitted by amici curiae (Docket No. 43) ¹; has heard and considered the oral arguments of counsel; and now enters the following Memorandum Decision and Order.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs, the Idaho Conservation League (“ICL”) and The Wilderness Society, appeal a decision of the Forest Service adopting a Travel Management Plan (“Travel Plan”) for the Salmon–Challis National Forest (“SCNF” or “Forest”). Plaintiffs generally contend that the Travel Plan fails to ensure that motor vehicle use is properly sited and managed on the Forest in order to minimize adverse environmental impacts. More specifically, Plaintiffs claim that the Record of Decision (“ROD”) and final environmental impact statement (“FEIS”) violate the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and applicable Forest Service regulations and Executive Orders, because: (1) with regard to the Travel Plan's specific impact on the Forest's Recommended Wilderness Areas (“RWAs”) and Inventories Roadless Areas (“IRAs”), the EIS does not adequately address cumulative impacts or consider a reasonable range of alternatives; (2) the decisional process did not address the Forest Service's duty to minimize adverse impacts of off-road vehicle use; and (3) the decision included a minimum road system determination that is both procedurally and substantively inadequate.

The Forest Service and Amici defend the Forest Service's decision, emphasizing that the Travel Plan drastically reduces the miles of roads and trails open to motorized use. The Forest Service and Amici also emphasize that the Forest Service has a multiple-use mandate that requires it to balance a number of competing uses of the Forest, including a range of recreational uses. The Amici support the Travel Plan, because they believe it reflects a fair compromise among diverse user groups.

The Court is mindful that the process of planning, preparing and revising a document such as this Travel Plan is an enormous undertaking. Extensive work is required of many Forest Service employee specialists, and considerable efforts are expended by those members of the public, such as the members represented by Plaintiffs and Amici, who also are involved in the process. The Court is aware that the Salmon Challis National Forest is a particularly large and diverse national forest, with over 4.3 million acres within its boundaries, that for many years was administered as two separate national forests. The SCNF includes a remarkable variety of natural wonders, irreplaceable flora, fauna, waters, and terrain, and critically important timber and mineral resources. The Forest draws an equally remarkable variety of human use. The undersigned has been a frequent visitor to the Forest, and a user of both its motorized routes and its non-motorized trails.

To review the administrative record of a decision made to implement the Travel Plan at issue here, is to review only a cross-section of the time, attention and expertise that went into the creation of the Travel Plan. Accordingly, consistent with the standard of review used by the Court in considering appeals such as this, the Court has deferred to the decisions of the Forest Service when those determinations have been reasonably drawn, consistent with the requirements of federal law. Nonetheless, the Court also must fulfill its responsibility to return such decisions to the agency when those decisions have not been made in a lawful manner or where discretion has been abused or capriciously exercised. In this case, the Travel Plan largely withstands the legal challenges made against it. However, certain discrete portions of the decisions incorporated by the Forest Service into the Travel Plan fall short of the required measure. The Court must, in those circumstances, return the Travel Plan to the agency for correction of those errors.

As further explained below, the Court finds that the Travel Plan violates the 2005 Travel Management Rule and NEPA in four substantial ways. First, the record does not support the agency's decision to exclude from its cumulative impacts analysis the combined effect of motorized routes less than one-half mile long on the wilderness values and roadless characteristics of the RWAs and IRAs. Second, the record does not reflect that the Forest Service adequately fulfilled its duty to make final route designations that meet the 2005 Travel Management Rule's minimization requirements. Third, the record does not reflect that the Forest Service considered Plaintiffs' site-specific comments. Fourth, the ROD must be amended to eliminate any suggestion that the Forest Service made a minimum road system determination for the SCNF.

BACKGROUND

A. Forest Service Land Management

The Forest Service manages the lands it administers under a multiple-use management framework set forth in the Multiple–Use Sustained Yield Act (“MUSYA”) of 1960, 16 U.S.C.A. §§ 528–531. MUSYA requires a careful balancing of often competing resources, including “outdoor recreation, range, timber watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes.” 16 U.S.C. § 528.

In addition, forest-specific management decisions are guided by the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1601, et seq. NFMA incorporates MUSYA's multiple-use management direction, adding “wilderness” as an additional management philosophy within the multiple use framework, 16 U.S.C. § 1604(e), reflecting the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. 16 U.S.C. § 1311, et seq.

The Wilderness Act establishes the National Wilderness Preservation System. Under the Wilderness Act, the Forest Service identifies “primitive” lands in the National Forest System and make recommendations to Congress as to those lands deemed deserving of “wilderness” status. See 16 U.S.C. § 1132. Both RWAs and IRAs are areas the Forest Service has identified as suitable for possible wilderness designation.² Congress ultimately decides whether these lands obtain wilderness designation. 16 U.S.C. § 1131. Designated “wilderness” is managed under the Wilderness Act in order to preserve its wild and pristine character.

B. Forest Service Travel Management

There are two sources of law specific to travel management on the national forests. First, there are two related executive orders specific to Off–Road Vehicle (“ORV”) travel on trails and other areas. See Exec. Order No. 11644, 37 Fed. Reg. 2877 (Feb. 9, 1972), as amended by Exec. Order No. 11989, 42 Fed. Reg. 26,959 (May 25, 1977) (collectively, “ORV Executive Orders”). Second, the Forest Service must comply with its own travel management regulations as revised in 2005. See Travel Management; Designated Routes and Areas for Motor Vehicle Use (70 Fed. Reg. 68264 (2005)); 36 CFR Parts 212, 251, 261, and 295 (“2005 Travel Management Rule”).

1. ORV Executive Orders

In 1972, President Nixon issued Executive Order No. 11644 directing the land management agencies, including the Forest Service, to adopt regulations providing for administrative designation of areas and trails open and closed to motor vehicle use. Exec. Order No. 11,644, § 3; 37 Fed. Reg. 2877 (Feb. 9, 1972). These regulations must “direct that the designation of such areas and trails will be based upon [1] the protection of the resources of the public lands, [2] promotion of the safety of all users of those lands, and [3] minimization of conflicts among the various uses of those lands.” Id. These regulations also must “require that the designation of such areas and trails shall be in accordance with” the follow “minimization criteria:”

(1) Areas and trails shall be located to minimize damage to soil, watershed, vegetation, and other resources;

(2) Areas and trails shall be located to minimize harassment of wildlife or significant disruption of wildlife habitats;

(3) Areas and trails shall be located to minimize conflicts between off-road vehicle use and other existing or proposed recreational uses of the same or neighboring public lands, and to ensure the compatibility of such uses with existing conditions in populated areas, taking into account noise and other factors; and

(4) Areas and trails shall not be located in officially designated Wilderness Areas or Primitive Areas. Areas and trails shall be located in areas of the National Park system, Natural Areas, or National Wildlife Refuges and Game Ranges only if the respective agency head determines that off-road vehicle use in such locations will not adversely affect their natural, aesthetic, or scenic values....

Id.

In 1977, President Carter issued Executive Order No. 11989, amending Executive Order 11644 and adding additional protections. See Exec. Order No. 11,989; Utah Shared Access Alliance v. Carpenter, 463 F.3d 1125, 1130 (10th Cir.2006). Executive Order 11989 directs the land management agencies, including the Forest Service, to close certain trails and other areas upon a finding that ORV use “will cause...