Sierra Club v. United States Forest Service

This consolidated appeal requires us to determine when “preparation” of a salvage timber sale ends for purposes of the Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Assistance and Rescissions Act (the Act), Pub.L. No. 104r-19, 109 Stat. 194 (1995).

This action is a National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 , et. seq., challenge to proposed salvage timber sales in the Warner Creek area of Oregon. After Plaintiffs filed their complaint, Congress passed the Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Assistance and Rescissions Act, eliminating the need to follow NEPA when developing salvage timber sales. § 2001(b), Pub.L. No. 104-19, 109 Stat. 194. The Act applies to all salvage timber sales “in preparation” on the date of enactment. Id.

The district court held that the portion of the Warner Creek sale which had not yet been advertised was still “in preparation;” therefore the Act applied to the sale and nullified Plaintiffs’ NEPA claim. The court held that the Act did not apply to that portion of the sale which had already been advertised and awarded, however. The court nonetheless granted summary judgment in favor of the United States Forest Service (USFS) with…