ELR Citation: 41 ELR 20314
No(s). 10-35623, -35784 (9th Cir. Oct 12, 2011)

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision invalidating the U.S. Forest Service's 2007 travel management plan for parts of the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Nothing in the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1977, which requires the Service to manage a wilderness study area so as to "maintain" its wilderness character as it existed in 1977, prohibits the Service from exercising its discretion to enhance the wilderness character of a study area. Nor does NEPA require the Service to prepare a supplemental draft EIS where, as here, the final decision makes only minor changes and is qualitatively within the spectrum of the alternatives discussed in the draft EIS. Because the travel plan conforms to the Study Act and NEPA, the lower court's decision was reversed.