Greenpeace, Inc. v. Forrest Cole

MEMORANDUM

Appellant-Plaintiffs Greenpeace, Inc., and Cascadia Wildlands Project (“Greenpeace”) brought this Administrative Procedure Act challenge under the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (“NFMA”) and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”), contesting the United States Forest Service’s (“USFS”) approval of four timber logging projects in the Tongass National Forest: Scott Peak, Overlook, Traitors Cove, and Soda Nick (“the projects”). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants on all claims raised before it. We reverse in part, vacate in part, and remand.

NFMA requires that National Forest System lands must be managed “consistent with the land management plans.” 16 U.S.C. § 1604®; Lands Council v. McNair, 537 F.3d 981, 989 (9th Cir.2008) (en banc), overruled in other part as recognized by Am. Trucking Ass’ns v. City of Los Angeles, 559 F.3d 1046 , 1052 & n. 10 (9th Cir.2009). Although NFMA “does not specify precisely how the [USFS] must demonstrate that it has met the objectives of the pertinent forest plan,” Earth Island Inst. v. Carlton, 626 F.3d 462, 470 (9th Cir.2010) (internal quotation marks omitted), at the least, USFS must…