Skranak

We must decide whether the United States Forest Service properly denied owners access to their patented mining claims within the Kootenai National Forest in Montana.

I

A

Alan Skranak and James Skranak (“the Skranaks”) currently own the 50-acre “Fourth-of-July” tract, consisting of four mining claims in the Kootenai National Forest in Montana. The United States granted a patent on one in 1907 and on the other three in 1912. A six-foot wide wagon road was built to the tract in 1902. The road has long since been closed to motorized traffic and now functions as the Fourth-of-July trail.

Henry Skranak, the Skranaks’ father, bought the Fourth-of-July tract in 1961 and has had numerous run-ins with the Forest Service over issues of access in his efforts to work the mining claims. In 1995 Henry Skranak requested a special use permit under the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (“ANILCA”) to construct a 2.1-mile access road on and near the Fourth-of-July trail. The Forest Service considered the request and its potential effects on endangered species, water quality, and recreation, among other concerns. The Forest Service decided to allow the road to be built, but along a…