Glickman

ORDER

The motion which was filed on June 20, 1996 by Appellants Inland Empire Public Lands Council, The Ecology Center and Alliance for The Wild Rockies, for leave to file a responsive letter brief herin is GRANTED.

Having considered that motion of Appellants and the objections to that motion filed herein by Defendant-Intervenor-Appellee In-termountain Forest Industry Association on June 21, 1996, and by Defendant-Appellees Dan Glickman, et al., on July 3, 1996, the court makes the following amendments to its opinion in this appeal:

OPINION

Inland Empire Public Lands Council, The Ecology Center and Alliance for The Wild Rockies (collectively “Inland Empire”) appeal the summary judgment in favor of Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, the United States Forest Service and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) (collectively “the Secretary”). We affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background.

In August 1994, a lightning storm ignited over 200 fires in the Kootenai National Forest in northwest Montana, burning 55,000 acres. The Forest Service aims to conduct salvage timber sales of roughly 36 million board feet in the North and South Fork areas of the Kootenai…