Bull

In this interlocutory appeal, we must decide whether the district court abused its discretion in denying a preliminary injunction against the United States Forest Service’s implementation of the Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project in the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana.

I

The Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project (“MEF Project”) was developed under the authority of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (“HFRA”), 16 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq., which directs the Forest Service (“Service”) to implement fuel reduction projects “as soon as practicable” on federal land at risk from an insect epidemic. After a long process, the Service adopted “Alternative-2 Modified,” which calls for the treatment of 4938 acres of land in the Bitterroot National Forest, as the plan for the MEF Project. The stated purposes for the action are (1) to reduce wildland fire threats to the Middle East Fork community, (2) to restore fire-adapted ecosystems in the Middle East Fork landscape, and (3) to restore stands affected by the Douglas-fir bark beetle epidemic by treating infested areas and lands at risk.

A coalition of interested groups comprised of WildWest Institute and the…