Alexander

Plaintiff environmental groups Neighbors of Cuddy Mountain, The Ecology Center, and Idaho Sporting Congress (collectively, “Neighbors”) appeal the district court’s dismissal of their action challenging a timber sale on national forest land in Idaho. Neighbors asserts that the United States Forest Service (“Forest Service”) violated the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600-1687 , and the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 -4370Í, when it approved a timber sale in the Grade and Dukes Creek area (“the Grade/Dukes sale”) in Payette National Forest (“Pay-ette”).

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . . Although the timber sale is now complete, we conclude that Neighbors’ challenge to the sale is not moot because effective relief may still be granted. We reverse the district court’s dismissal of Neighbors’ NFMA claims, affirm its dismissal of Neighbors’ NEPA claims, and remand.

I BACKGROUND

A.

The Forest Service’s decisions regarding Payette are governed by NFMA, which sets forth a statutory framework for the management of our national forests. See Neighbors of Cuddy Mountain v. United States Forest Serv., 137 F.3d…

Dissenting in part:

Because effective relief from the allegedly unlawful harvesting of old growth timber at Grade/Dukes is not within the powers of this court, the plaintiffs’ claims under the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600-1687 , are moot. I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision and judgment regarding those claims, but concur in the majority’s decision and judgment as to the plaintiffs’ claim under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 432N4370Í.

“The duty of this court, as of every other judicial tribunal, is to decide actual controversies by a judgment which can be carried into effect, and not to give opinions upon moot questions.... ” Mills v. Green, 159 U.S. 651, 653 , 16 S.Ct. 132 , 40 L.Ed. 293 (1895). If we cannot grant effective relief, we lack jurisdiction. Church of Scientology v. United States, 506 U.S. 9, 12 , 113 S.Ct. 447 , 121 L.Ed.2d 313 (1992); IRS v. Pattullo (In re Pattullo), 271 F.3d 898, 901 (9th Cir.2001) (per curiam).

As the majority acknowledges, the original relief sought by the plaintiffs as to the NFMA claims — an injunction prohibiting further logging at Grade/Dukes — is no longer…