McAllister

MEMORANDUM

Citizens for Balanced Use, et al. (Citizens), a coalition of motorized recreation groups, brought this action under the Administrative Procedure Act, alleging that the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) prepared by the United States Forest Service in conjunction with its 2006 Gallatin National Forest Travel Management Plan (Travel Plan) violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The district court granted summary judgment to the Service. We affirm.

1. Response to comments. Citizens argues that the Service should have included in the FEIS a formal response to “a large binder of miscellaneous documents” Citizens submitted, even though the binder contained “no introduction or even a discussion of the reason” Citizens submitted it. We disagree. An agency cannot be faulted for declining to respond to “cryptic and obscure” comments like this one. Vt. Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519, 554 , 98 S.Ct. 1197 , 55 L.Ed.2d 460 (1978). We reject Citizens’ unsupported argument that the Service’s decision to allow Citizens to file an administrative appeal of the Travel Plan demonstrates that Citizens must have submitted…