Forest Conservation Council v. United States Forest Service

The State of Arizona and Apache County, Arizona appeal the district court’s denial of their motions to intervene under Fed. R.Civ.P. 24. The action in which they seek to intervene was brought by environmental organizations including the Forest Conservation Council (collectively “FCC”) alleging that the United States Forest Service (“USFS” or “Forest Service”) was violating the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq. and the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600 et seq. by implementing its guidelines for the management of Northern Goshawk habitat on national forest lands. The State of Arizona and Apache County, Arizona, moved to intervene either as of right or permissively under Fed. R.Civ.P. 24. 1 The district court denied appellants’ motions but instead granted them amicus status.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . 2 We reverse and remand.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

FCC brought suit in district court alleging that the Forest Service violated NEPA by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement assessing, on a region-wide and forest-wide basis, its guidelines for the management of…