Slaughter v. Nat'l Park Serv.

NEIGHBORS AGAINST BISON SLAUGHTER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 19-cv-3144 (BAH)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

November 14, 2019

Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Plaintiffs Neighbors Against Bison Slaughter and Bonnie Lynn filed this lawsuit against the National Park Service, the Department of Agriculture ("USDA"), and three government officials claiming they violated the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. §§ 551 et seq., and the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq., when they allegedly authorized an annual bison hunt in Southern Montana at a location on the edge of Yellowstone National Park called Beattie Gulch. See Compl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 1.¹ According to the plaintiffs, the hunt puts at risk the "hunters, local property owners, residents, and guests" in the vicinity of Beattie Gulch. Id. ¶ 1. Montana's bison hunting season begins November 15, 2019 and the plaintiffs have requested a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to enjoin the hunt while their APA and NEPA claims are sorted out. See generally Pls.' Mot. for a Temp. Restraining Order and a Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 4. In response, the defendants request that this case, including plaintiffs' requests for interim injunctive relief, be transferred to the Districtof Montana, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (allowing transfer "[f]or the convenience of parties and witnesses [and] in the interest of justice"). Defs.' Mot. to Transfer ("Defs.' Mot.") at 1, ECF. No. 13; Defs.' Reply in Supp. of Defs.' Mot ("Defs.' Reply") at 13, ECF No. 37. In accordance with the expedited schedule proposed by the parties, the briefing on the pending motions was completed on November 8, 2019. For the reasons explained in more detail below, given the long-standing coordinated plan among federal, state, tribal and local government authorities that may be significantly affected by this action, the Court concludes that transfer to the District of Montana best serves the interest of justice and, therefore, grants the defendants' transfer motion.² Moreover, because the plaintiffs fail to demonstrate the exigency necessary to justify granting a motion for a temporary restraining order, that motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

Every winter, when the snows begin to bury the grasses of Yellowstone National Park's mountains, the bison herd heads for lower ground in search of food. Compl. ¶ 2. Many of the Bison leave the park and enter "a quarter-mile-square area at the mouth of Beattie Gulch" inGardiner, Montana. Id. ¶¶ 2, 15. Beattie Gulch sits within the Custer-Gallatin National Forest, an enormous swath of federal land hugging Yellowstone National Park's northwest corner. Pls.' Points and Auths. in Support of Their Mot. for a Temp. Restraining Order and a Prelim. Inj. ("Pls.' Mem.") at 6, ECF No. 4-1. Hunting is forbidden within Yellowstone, 16 U.S.C. § 26 ("All hunting . . . is prohibited within the limits of [the] park."), but in 2005, after a 14-year hiatus, Montana reopened a bison hunt just outside park boundaries in Beattie Gulch. Pls.' Mot., Ex. C ("Letter from Montana Wildlife") at 1, ECF 4-11. Over time, the hunt has grown in both the number of bison killed and the number of hunters participating. Pls.' Mem. at 12. While Montana citizens are authorized to hunt under the laws of that state, at least six tribal governments now also conduct their own hunts, claiming the right under various treaties to do so on open and unclaimed federal lands within Montana. See Br. of Amici Curiae in Support of Fed. Defs.' Corrected Opp'n to Pls.' Mot. for a Temp. Restraining Order and Prelim. Inj. ("Amicus Br.") at 1, ECF No. 31.³

Plaintiff Bonnie Lynn owns land and a few cabins across the street from Beattie Gulch. Compl. ¶ 15. She worries that "[s]ooner or later," the intensifying hunt "is going to kill someone." Id. ¶ 3. Lynn created the other plaintiff in this case, Neighbors Against Bison Slaughter, in response to this alleged danger. Id. ¶ 17. The plaintiffs, both Montana residents, lay the blame for the risks posed by the hunt at the feet of two federal agencies, the NPS and USDA, and three federal officials, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park. Id. ¶¶ 18-22.

That hunt, now the focus of this suit, is part of a decades-long, multi-agency, and multi-jurisdictional project to manage the bison population. Once on the brink of extinction, beginning in the 1960s the bison herd began to grow rapidly and so did the risk that the bison would transmit diseases to cattle grazing outside Yellowstone. Pls.' Mot., Ex. H ("Fed. ROD") at 3-4, ECF No. 4-16. In the early 1990s, anxious to prevent the infection of livestock, the State of Montana and several federal agencies agreed to work together toward a comprehensive bison management scheme. Id. at 4. Federal-state cooperation, however, was not always smooth and, in 1995, Montana sued the National Park Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service ("APHIS"), an agency within the USDA. Id. at 4; Montana v. Babbitt, No. 6:95-cv-6 (D. Mont. Jan. 17, 1995). The state and federal agencies settled by committing to a schedule for the completion of a "long-term bison management plan and environmental impact statement." Fed. ROD at 4. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, Montana's lawsuit was stayed until the plan was finished. Order (Nov. 20, 1995), Montana v. Babbitt, No. 6:95-cv-6 (D. Mont.). In late 2000, with the aid of mediation before a magistrate judge in the District of Montana, the Interagency Bison Management Plan ("IBMP") and accompanying environmental impact statement were published. Order (Jan. 9, 2001), Montana v. Babbitt, No. 6:95-cv-6 (D. Mont.) (dismissing the case); Fed. ROD at 1 (noting that the final "Environmental Impact Statement and Bison Management Plan" were published on December 20, 2000); Fed. ROD at 15 (explaining that Montana had published its own environmental impact statement on November 15, 2000).

Although the IBMP was negotiated between and initially executed by state and federal officials, the management of the plan has since grown to include tribal governments. Eight organizations make up the IBMP's governing body: APHIS, NPS (specifically Yellowstone administrators), the United States Forest Service ("USFS") (specifically administrators in theCuster-Gallatin National Forest), the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department, the Montana Department of Livestock (including the Montana State Veterinarian), the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, the InterTribal Buffalo Council, and the Nez Perce Tribe (collectively "IBMP Members"). Pls.' Mot., Ex. D ("2019 Winter Plan") at 1, ECF No. 4-12. The IBMP structures the coordination between these organizations in order to meet bison management priorities.

Since its adoption, the IBMP has been updated periodically by the IBMP Members through a process called "adaptive management." Pls.' Mot., Ex. E ("2011 Adaptive Mgmt. Adjs.") at 1, ECF 4-13. These periodic adjustments are intended to allow the plan to adapt to the ever-changing on-the-ground reality of the herd's movement and size, but "are intended to be applied within the framework of the IBMP and not alter its basic management direction or goals." Id. Adjustments include changing the areas in which bison are allowed to roam and altering the techniques used to keep the bison population within prescribed numbers. Id. at 1-2. One such technique is the capture of bison within Yellowstone and their distribution to slaughterhouses throughout the country. 2019 Winter Plan at 11. The hunt is another tool. Id. at 6 ("The IBMP members, through the adaptive management process, have agreed that the harvest of bison will be a preferred method for managing their abundance and distribution to the extent possible."). Montana and the various tribal governments each manage their own hunts, "); Defs.' Opp'n to Pls.' Mot. ("Defs.' Opp'n"), Ex. 2 ("Tribal Mem. of Agreement") at 1, ECF No. 25-2 (tribal agreement creating rules to ensure "regular, predictable, safe, and respectful bison hunt in Beattie Gulch"); Defs.' Opp'n, Ex. 4 ("MT Hunting Regs.") at 1-4, ECF No. 25-4 (describing Montana's bison hunting regulations). All IBMP Members, however, work in concert to ensure that the number of bison killed in the hunt aligns with population goals. 2019 Winter Plan at 7-8 ("The IBMP partners will work together to coordinate trapping and hunting activities to achievereasonable . . . [d]istribution of bison . . . throughout the northern and western management areas in Montana."). Indeed, NPS has agreed to limit its capture of bison so as to "support tribal and state hunting." Id. at 10.

To ensure adequate coordination between IBMP members, operating procedures are published each year that "outline[] the actions necessary to implement the [IBMP]." Id. at 2. In late December of 2018, the 2019 Winter Plan was approved by representatives from the eight IBMP members. Id. at 1. Plaintiffs focus their claims on the 2019 Winter Plan. Compl. ¶¶ 59, 63, 68, 72(a)-(c). Over eight months after publication of the 2019 Winter Plan, the plaintiffs, in August 16, 2019, informed Yellowstone's Superintendent and the Custer-Gallatin National Forest's Supervisor of their belief that the USFS, NPS, and USDA "have violated federal law by failing to impose reasonable restrictions on the migration and hunting of wild bison in Beattie Gulch." Pls.' Resp. to Fed. Defs.' Mot. to Transfer ("Pls.' Opp'n"), Ex. A ("Demand Letter") at 1, ECF No. 32-1. Neither agency acceded to the plaintiffs' demand to "immediately suspend the upcoming hunting season (2019-20) in Beattie Gulch." Id. at 3. Consequently, almost three months later, the plaintiffs filed suit in this Court on October 21, 2019, Compl. at 1, followed two days later, by their filing of a motion...