Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Savage

Alliance filed suit against Federal Defendants to enjoin implementation of the East Reservoir Project on the Kootenai National Forest in northwest Montana. While this appeal was pending, the Forest Service reinitiated consultation with the FWS and subsequently issued a new biological opinion for the Lynx Amendment, completing a reconsultation process. Therefore, the panel rejected Alliance's assertion that the Forest Service's decision to approve the Project was arbitrary and capricious because it improperly relied on the Lynx Amendment in determining the impact of Project activities on lynx and lynx critical habitat. The panel dismissed the claim and remanded to the district court with directions to vacate the part of its summary judgment ruling that addressed this lynx related claim and to dismiss it as moot.However, the panel held that Alliance was entitled to summary judgment on its claim that the Forest Service failed to comply with the Motorized Vehicle Access Act (Access Amendments). In this case, the Forest Service's failure to analyze whether the Project will increase the total linear miles of permanent roads within the Tobacco BORZ polygon (the overlapping area in which Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bears were sometimes found) beyond the baseline did not satisfy the plain terms of the Access Amendments and was therefore arbitrary and capricious. The panel reversed the district court's judgment as to this claim and remanded for further proceedings. View "Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Savage" on Justia Law