United States v. the Wilderness Socie

I. Background

We begin with the initiation of the lawsuit in 1999 by the United States against residents of Elko County who were using self-help measures to restore one of the old logging roads near a wilderness area. Carpenter, 298 F.3d at 1124. The residents were known as the “Shovel Brigade.” The United States at that time was concerned about the degrada- tion of the environment through the adverse effect the Shovel Brigade was having on bull trout in the river adjacent to the roadway, and the threat to maintaining the pristine nature of that area. Because the road leads to the Jarbidge Wilderness Area, the restoration of the roadway would have increased 5832 UNITED STATES v. THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY traffic into the wilderness preserve. The U.S. Attorney Gen- eral filed this suit alleging two causes of action: unlawful take of threatened bull trout in violation of the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1538(a)(1)(G), and common law trespass.

The district court added Elko County as a party defendant, and it filed a counterclaim under the Quiet Title Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2409a, alleging that title to an easement for the road- way should be quieted in the County as opposed…