Soda Mountain Wilderness Council v. Bureau of Land Management

MEMORANDUM

Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, Oregon Wild, Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Center for Biological Diversity, and Cascadia Wildlands (Soda Mountain) appeal the district court’s denial of their motion for preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin a timber sale approved by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Soda Mountain argues that it raised serious questions on the merits of three claims relating to: (1) whether BLM’s timber sale will contribute to the need to list the Pacific fisher under the Endangered Species Act in violation of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act; (2) whether BLM violated the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) by failing to take a “hard look” at logging trees infected with mistletoe; and, (3) whether BLM violated NEPA by failing to consider an alternative that avoids construction of new roads. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (a)(1). We affirm the district court’s order denying Soda Mountain’s motion for a preliminary injunction, in part, and reverse in part.

We review the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction under an abuse of discretion standard. Am. Trucking Ass’ns, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles,…