The Wilderness Society Alaska Center for the Environment v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service

We consider an action brought by the Wilderness Society and the Alaska Center for the Environment (“Plaintiffs”) challenging a decision by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”), to grant a permit for a sockeye salmon enhancement project (“Enhancement Project”) that annually introduces about six million hatchery-reared salmon fry into Tustumena Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (“Kenai Refuge”) and the Kenai Wilderness. Plaintiffs assert that the USFWS permit for the Enhancement Project violated the Wilderness Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1131-1136 , by offending its mandate to preserve the “natural conditions” that are a part of the “wilderness character” of the Kenai Wilderness, id. §§ 1131, 1133, and by sanctioning an impermissible “commercial enterprise” within a designated wilderness area. Id. § 1133(c). Plaintiffs also claim that the Enhancement Project violates the National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act of 1966, 16 U.S.C. §§ 668dd-668ee (“Refuge Act”), because the project is not consistent with the purposes of the Kenai Refuge as set forth in the Refuge Act. Id. § 668dd. The district court denied Plaintiffs’ motion for…