Methow Valley Citizens Council v. Regional Forester, Etc.

Sandy Butte overlooks the Methow Valley, an unspoiled, sparsely populated area on the eastern side of the North Cascade Mountains in the State of Washington. The Methow Valley provides critical winter range and migration corridors for Washington’s largest migratory deer herd. Sandy Butte is a 3,900-acre parcel in the Okanogan National Forest. The upper one-third of Sandy Butte is entirely road-less. In 1978 appellee Methow Recreation, Inc. (MRI) applied for a “special use” permit to develop and operate a four-season destination ski resort on Sandy Butte and a large parcel of private land it had acquired adjacent to Sandy Butte. The proposed development is known as the Early Winters project. The project is expected to spawn extensive commercial and residential development in the Methow Valley.

Pursuant to requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4332 , mandating completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzing the environmental impacts of “major” governmental actions, the appellee Forest Service studied the question of whether it should allocate Sandy Butte for use as a downhill ski area. In 1982 the Forest Service published a draft…