Great Old Broads for Wildernes v. Abigail Kimbell

This case arises out of the long and contentious process to repair a flood-dam aged road in a sensitive area of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Elko County, Nevada. A related dispute reached us twice before, when we ordered that Appellants Great Old Broads and the Wilderness Society (collectively, “Great Old Broads”) be allowed to intervene in court-directed settlement talks to determine how best to repair or replace the road, rejecting timeliness and standing challenges. See United States v. Carpenter (Carpenter I), 298 F.3d 1122, 1125 (9th Cir.2002); United States v. Carpenter (Carpenter II), 526 F.3d 1237, 1240 (9th Cir.2008). Great Old Broads now appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the United States Forest Service (“Forest Service”) on Great Old Broads’s claims related to the Forest Service’s record of decision (“ROD”) determining the method for restoring the South Canyon Road as a part of the Jarbidge Canyon Project (the “Project”). The Project was an effort to reestablish the South Canyon Road after flood waters damaged the road in 1995, eliminating vehicle access to the Snowslide Gulch Wilderness Portal in the Jarbidge Wilderness.…