Sharon J. Hapner v. Tom Tidwell

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiffs Sharon J. Hapner, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and Native Ecosystems Council (“Plaintiffs”) challenge the U.S. Forest Service’s Smith Creek Vegetation Treatment Project (“the Project”) under the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”) and National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). In a prior opinion, we affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in the Service’s favor “in almost all respects.” Hapner v. Tidwell, 621 F.3d 1239, 1251 (9th Cir.2010). Plaintiffs’ “single meritorious argument” was that the Service violated NFMA by failing to ensure that the Project complied with an elk-cover requirement contained in the Gallatin National Forest Plan (“the Plan”). Id. at 1250-51 . We remanded for the Service to remedy this error. Id. at 1251 .

On remand, the Service field tested and revised its methodology for calculating elk cover and determined that the Project complied with the Plan’s requirements. The district court held that the Service’s new elk cover analysis complied with the Plan and granted the Service’s motion to dissolve the injunction against the Project. We affirm.

We review the validity of a district court’s order dissolving an…