League of Wilderness Defenders-Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project v. United States Forest Service

In their suit filed pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706 , the League of Wilderness Defenders — -Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project and Cascadia Wildlands Project (collectively, LOWD) sought declaratory and injunctive relief to halt the Deep Creek Vegetation Management Project (the Project), which called for the selective logging of 12.8 million board feet of timber in the Ochoco National Forest. LOWD claims in its suit that the United States Forest Service (Forest Service) failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4231 et seq., and the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), 16 U.S.C. § 1600 et seq., in developing and implementing the Project. The district court denied LOWD’s motion for summary judgment and granted the Forest Service’s cross-motion for summary judgment. Because the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) may not tier to a non-NEPA watershed analysis to consider adequately the aggregate cumulative effects of past timber sales, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Forest Service, and we remand this case so the Forest Service can…