Usfs

MEMORANDUM

Conservation Congress, Citizens for Better Forestry, Mary Lee Steffensen, and Karen Wilson (“Conservation Congress”) appeal the district court’s order on cross-motions for summary judgment in favor of the United States Forest Service and against Conservation Congress. This is an action challenging the Forest Service’s planned forest-thinning project (the “East Fork II Project”) in the East Fork South Fork Trinity River Watershed in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest (“STNF”). The district court held that the Forest Service complied with the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600 , et seq., and the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 , et seq. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm the district court’s decision.

I. Background

The East Fork II Project proposes forest thinning on approximately 931 acres of the STNF. The purpose of the Project is to make the forest more resilient to wildfire. The Forest Service disclosed the expected environmental impacts of the Project in the East Fork II Environmental Assessment (“EA”). The Forest Service prepared the East Fork II EA in an effort to comply with…