Conservation Congress v. United States Forest Service

ORDER RE PLAINTIFF’S MOTION AND DEFENDANTS’ CROSS MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

—William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act 1, sc. 2.

This litigation concerns the continuing viability of the revered Northern spotted owl (“NSO”) and whether it may soon portend its own demise at the hands of its protector, the federal government. The United States Forest Service (“USFS”) plans to execute the Smokey Project (“Project”), a proposal to administer fuel and vegetative treatments intended to further habitat and fire management goals in the Mendocino National Forest (“MNF”) and contribute to the MNF’s timber production goals. The USFS engaged with interested parties as it developed the Project, leading to its decision to adopt the proposal. Conservation Congress (“Plaintiff’) participated throughout that process, advocating for the NSO and its old-growth habitat. It now challenges the USFS’s final decisions, as well as the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“FWS”; collectively “Defendants”) contributions to the end result. As described below, the Court agrees that the USFS failed to meet some of its statutory obligations.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The USFS began scoping for the Smokey Project…