Schwenke v. Secretary of the Interior

720 F.2d 571 Charles E. SCHWENKE, Lester Earl Nickels, and Russell K. Nickels, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service and Refuge Manager of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, Defendant-Appellant, and National Wildlife Federation, Montana Wildlife Federation, Defendants-Intervenors-Appellants. Nos. 82-3132, 82-3175. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Jan. 3, 1983. Decided Oct. 14, 1983. C. Delos Putz, Jr., San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellees. Thomas France, Missoula, Mont., Thomas H. Pacheco, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Before FERGUSON, BOOCHEVER and NORRIS, Circuit Judges. NORRIS, Circuit Judge. 1 This case involves a series of executive orders and statutes dealing with livestock grazing and wildlife preservation on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Range (Russell Range or Range), an area of approximately 823,456 acres in northeastern Montana owned by the United States. We are called upon first to decide the relative priorities of wildlife and livestock in…