Oregon Natural Resources Council Breitenbush Community, Inc. Michael Donnelly v. U.S. Forest Service Bugaboo Timber Company

Plaintiffs-appellants Oregon Natural Resources Council, Inc. (“ONRC”), Breiten-bush Community, Inc., and Michael Donnelly appeal the district court’s denial of their motion for summary judgment and motion for preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs also appeal the court’s order granting summary judgment for defendants-appellees United States Forest Service (“USFS”) and Bugaboo Timber Co. (“Bugaboo”). Plaintiffs seek to enjoin Bugaboo from harvesting timber pursuant to a timber sale awarded Bugaboo by the USFS. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Plaintiffs raise three issues on appeal. First, plaintiffs claim that the USFS violated the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706 , because the USFS did not abide by its own regulations and improperly dismissed plaintiffs’ administrative appeal concerning the USFS’s Environmental Assessment (“EA”) of the North Roaring Devil timber sale. Second, plaintiffs claim that the EA is inadequate under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 4332 , because it does not address cumulative effects, because it does not disclose violations of state water quality standards, and because the sale is precluded by a…