Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Rick Brazell

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiffs-Appellants Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Clear-water (collectively “Alliance”) appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of federal defendants the United States Forest Service (“USFS”) and the Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”). Alliance argues that the district court erred when it affirmed USFS’s decision to implement the Little Slate Project (“Project”) — a 2,598-acre timber thinning sale within a 36,000-acre project area in the 2.2 million-acre Nez Perce National Forest. Alliance asserts that the agencies violated the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1600 et seq., the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq., and the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq. — and therefore the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. — by failing to properly account for the impact of the Project on several species that live in the project area (fisher, goshawk, pileated woodpecker, and bull trout) and those species’ habitats. We disagree. We find that the federal agencies satisfied their obligations under NFMA, NEPA, the ESA, and the APA before…