California Ex Rel. Lockyer v. US FOREST SER.

BREYER, District Judge.

This lawsuit is one of two companion cases concerning the Grand Sequoia National Monument, which was carved out of the Sequoia National Forest by presidential proclamation in 2000. Pursuant to the Proclamation, defendant United States Forest Service developed a programmatic environmental plan for the Monument. Plaintiff People of the State of California ("California") challenges the Monument Plan under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"). California makes seven claims challenging the adequacy and sufficiency of the Monument Plan: (1) failure to create a discernible and comprehensible plan in violation of the Proclamation and the APA; (2) a similar "incomprehensibility" claim under NEPA; (3) failure to comply with the plain text of the Proclamation; (4) failure to take the requisite "hard look" under NEPA at the potential environmental impact of the Plan; (5) failure to conduct an adequate cumulative impacts analysis under NEPA; (6) improper "tiering" to the 2004 Sequoia National Forest Fire Management Plan; and (7) failure to honor the terms of a 1990 Mediated Settlement Agreement regarding the…