Kettle Range Conservation Group v. U.S. Forest Service

The issue in this case is whether the Forest Service abused its discretion regarding the scope of a supplement to an environmental impact statement.

Facts

In 1990, the Forest Service began studying the feasibility of conducting timber sales in 29,600 acres of the Colville National Forest in northeastern Washington. In 1992, after nearly two years of study and public meetings, the Forest Service completed a draft environmental impact statement. After more public comment, the Forest Service published a final environmental impact statement in March of 1993. 1 The Forest Service decided to allow two timber sales, which would harvest 8 million board feet from about 1500 acres scattered throughout the study area.

Forest fires have frequently occurred within much of the area of the study. The environmental impact statement says “Much of this area historically had low intensity, high frequency fires. Large areas in the north portion of the analysis area and along the Kettle Crest show evidence of high intensity fires.” One of these fires, the Copper Butte Fire, occurred subsequent to publication of the environmental impact statement. It was started by lightning, and burned in about…