ELR Citation: 40 ELR 20004
No(s). 09-1639 (8th Circ. Oct 18, 2010)

The Eighth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service's revised forest plan for the Superior National Forest complied with NEPA. The environmental groups that filed the suit have standing, given the immediate, concrete consequences for the recreational interests of specific visitors to the Superior National Forest that result from the selection of the chosen alternative over other alternatives rejected by the Forest Service. Nevertheless, the Forest Service took an appropriately “hard look” at the environmental consequences of the revised forest plan and its impact on the on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). The Forest Service considered the BWCAW in its analysis and set forth in the final EIS a policy that proposed changes have only a minimal, neutral impact on the wilderness area, such that new management direction for that area is unnecessary. In addition, the final EIS expressly considers the effect of the various management alternatives on wildlife habitats and plant species within the wilderness area, and the agency considered environmental impacts of the forest plan on “analysis areas” that encompass the BWCAW. Accordingly, the Forest Service did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in its development of the final EIS.