Nat. Resources Def. Council v. U.S. Forest Service

634 F.Supp.2d 1045

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, INC.; Sierra Club; and Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE; and Jack Troyer, in his official capacity as Regional Forester, Intermountain Region, Defendants.

No. S-05-02590WBS GGH.

United States District Court, E.D. California.

September 5, 2007.

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Johanna H. Wald, Selena Katherine Kyle, Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiffs.

Beverly F. Li, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Dominique Chantale Alepin, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, Palo Alto, CA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER RE: CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT; FEDERAL DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO STRIKE

WILLIAM B. SHUBB, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Natural Resources Defense Counsel ("NRDC"), Sierra Club, and Central Sierra Environmental Resource Counsel, ("plaintiffs") brought this action against defendants United States Forest Service ("FS") and Regional Forester Jack Troyer, ("defendants"), challenging defendants' decision to revise the Bridgeport Ranger District Travel Plan and amend the Toiyabe Land and Resource Management Plan to provide for snowmobile use in 7,000 acres of the 47,000-acre recommended addition to the Hoover Wilderness Area. Currently pending before the court are plaintiffs' and defendants' cross-motions for summary judgment and defendants' motion to strike.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

A. The Area and Nature of the Project

The Travel Management Plan of the West Hoover Addition ("Travel Plan") covers a project area that consists of 7,000 acres of the recommended western addition to the Hoover Wilderness Area ("West Hoover Addition"). (AR 1871.)¹ The West Hoover Addition is comprised of 47,000 acres, including a U-shaped glacial basin, high granite and volcanic peaks, and numerous alpine lakes, streams, forests, and meadows. (AR 24-25.) The West Hoover Addition is located in the heart of the Sierra Nevada range, surrounded by Yosemite National Park to the south and the Emigrant and Hoover Wilderness Areas to the east and west, respectively. (AR 3.) The Pacific Crest Trial ("PCT"), a National Scenic Trial ("NST"), binds the project area on the south and west. (AR 1874.) Yosemite National Park, Emigrant and Hoover Wilderness Areas, and the PCT are closed to snowmobile use because they are Congressionally-designated wilderness areas ("CDWAs") or NSTs. See 16 U.S.C. §§ 1131-1136. The West Hoover Addition is part of the National Forest System lands administered by the Bridgeport Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. (AR 1871.)

In 1965, the FS began managing the West Hoover Addition as if it was a CDWA and closed the area to motorized use. (AR 1852.) Forest Orders from 1980 and 1981 prohibited the use of motorized vehicles, including snowmobiles, throughout the West Hoover Addition. (AR 35-51.) The California Wilderness Act of 1984 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to manage the West Hoover Addition for four years so as to protect its "presently existing wilderness character and potential for [permanent] inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System." Pub.L. No. 98-425; 98 Stat. 1619 (1984). In its 1986 Land and Resource Management Plan for the Toiyabe National Forest, the FS recommended to Congress that the entire 47,000 acres in the West Hoover Addition be designated as a CDWA, and provided for its management under a "wilderness prescription." (AR 1882, 1953.) This prescription prohibited snowmobile use. (AR 1953.) The FS issued supplemental Forest Orders in April 1986 and September 2004, reaffirming its ban on motorized vehicles in the West Hoover Addition. (AR 33, 77-80.)

Due to the development of "faster and more powerful machines," trespass into the West Hoover Addition's and surrounding Wilderness' rugged terrain became easier as the land became "more readily accessible to snowmobiles." (AR 1953.) In 2004, to address the trespass, the FS initiated a public outreach effort to educate snowmobilers about the closure of the West Hoover Addition to snowmobile use. (AR 3, 4, 20, 61-62, 2422.) This outreach included public meetings, letters, and news releases. Id. At that time, the FS began announcing it would re-evaluate the "issue of snowmobiling in the West Hoover [Addition] ... over the next several years." (AR 4.) The FS initiated consideration of this project to respond to the trespass problem. (AR 1953.)

B. Procedural History

Scoping for this project began in late 2004. On November 30, 2004, the FS published a three-page scoping notice proposing the development of the Travel Plan "to address agency and public concerns with management of the area and adjacent Emigrant and Yosemite Wilderness," including concerns that "[o]ver-snow motorized intrusions within the [West Hoover Addition] have become routine." (AR 91-93.) The FS received approximately three thousand responses during the thirty-day period for public comment on the scoping notice, despite the fact that the FS declined to extend the comment period. (AR 105-37, 138-65, 1722, 1876.) In March 2005, the FS issued a Notice of Proposed Action ("NOPA"), proposing that approximately 7,000 acres of the Proposed Wilderness be opened to seasonal snowmobile use beginning with the 2005-2006 winter season. (AR 1716-19.) The FS again provided a thirty-day comment period, and received thousands of responses. (AR 1863 (estimating 11,500 comments received).)

On July 18, 2005, the Bridgeport Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest completed the Biological Evaluation/Biological Assessment ("BE/BA") and Wildlife Specialist Reports. (AR 1687-1710, 1908-45.) These documents did not identify any major impacts from the proposed action, or any potential for any species to be moved toward listing under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA").

On July 19, 2005, the FS released an Environmental Assessment ("EA") that analyzed the Travel Plan's effects on all potentially affected resources such as recreation, wilderness/roadless qualities, wildlife, special uses, watershed condition, economics, air quality, and scenery. (AR 1868-1907.) Also on July 19, 2005, the FS issued a Decision Notice ("DN") and a Finding of No Significant Impact ("FONSI"), formally amending the Humboldt-Toiyabe Land and Resource Management Plan to open approximately 7,000 acres of the West Hoover Addition to seasonal snowmobile use. (AR 1950-64.) The DN/FONSI authorized the seasonal snowmobile use, with a closure date of April 15 (subject to the District Ranger's determination that an earlier or later date was appropriate), and required the implementation of a variety of resource protection measures. (AR 1953-55.) The FS did not prepare an Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS"), as it determined the opening would "not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment." (AR 1961-62.)

Plaintiffs and others filed administrative appeals regarding the decision to open the West Hoover Addition to snowmobile use. (AR 2024-2181.) On October 21, 2005, the Appeal Deciding Officer, Deputy Regional Forester Catherine L. Beaty, affirmed the Forest Supervisor's decision to approve the plan. (AR 2181-2204.) On December 21, 2005, the FS issued a new Forest Order declaring the 7,000 acres open for snowmobile use beginning in the winter of 2005-2006. (AR 2482.)

On December 21, 2005, plaintiffs filed the original complaint in this case alleging causes of action under 1) the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq.; 2) the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701 et seq.; 3) the Wilderness Act of 1964, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1131 et seq.; and 4) the National Trails Systems Act ("NTSA"), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1241 et seq. (Compl.) Plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint ("FAC") on March 10, 2006. (FAC.)

On June 1, 2007, plaintiffs filed this motion for summary judgment on their NEPA and APA claims.² Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the FS violated NEPA and the APA, and request the court to vacate the July 2005 DN and associated December 2005 Forest Order. Additionally, plaintiffs request that the court order the FS to reinstate and strictly enforce the snowmobile ban, while retaining jurisdiction to assure its compliance. On June 29, 2007, the Federal Defendants filed a cross-motion for summary judgment and to strike portions of the Declaration of Jeffrey Erodes.

II. Discussion

A. Standing

Defendants do not argue that plaintiffs lack standing. In his declaration, Jeffrey Erodes states that he is an active member of plaintiff NRDC and the Sierra Club, organizations formed to protect environmentally-significant lands, and that he regularly spends personal and professional time in the West Hoover Addition. John Buckley, in his declaration, states that he is the Executive Director of plaintiff Central Sierra Environmental Resource Council, an organization formed to protect and conserve public lands in the Sierra Nevada region, and that he has visited and plans to return in the future to the West Hoover Addition. In her declaration, Heidi Hall, a member of the Sierra Club and resident of Mono County, California, states that she has skied in the West Hoover Addition and is personally affected by FS's land management decisions. Owen Malloy, a member of the Sierra Club's Toyiabe Chapter, states in his declaration that he engaged in a variety of non-motorized winter activity in the project area. These facts are sufficient to confer standing on plaintiffs to bring this suit. See Ocean Advocates v. United States Army Corps of Eng'rs, 402 F.3d 846, 859-862 (9th Cir.2005) (discussing standing requirements in the context of suit under NEPA); Pit River Tribe v. United States Forest Serv., 469 F.3d 768, 779 (9th Cir.2006) (same).

B. Federal Defendants' Motion to Strike

The Federal Defendants move to strike...