Swanson v. Babbitt

3 F.3d 1348 Elmer H. SWANSON; Livingston Silver, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Bruce BABBITT, Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior; Mike Espy, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, * Defendants-Appellees. No. 91-36341. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted June 9, 1993. Decided Sept. 3, 1993. John B. Ingelstrom, Racine, Olson, Nye, Cooper & Budge, Pocatello, ID, for plaintiffs-appellants. Jacques B. Gelin, Environment and Natural Resources Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Idaho. Before: BRUNETTI, LEAVY and TROTT, Circuit Judges. TROTT, Circuit Judge: 1 The major issue presented by this case is whether the provisions of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 460aa et seq., preclude the issuance of mill site patents, even though the patent applications for those sites were pending at the time of the enactment of the Act. We hold that the provisions of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area Act expressly preclude the issuance of any patents on protected land after the date of the Act's…