ELR Citation: 51 ELR 20078
No(s). 19-35351 (9th Cir. May 6, 2021)

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's partial grant of summary judgment for cattle ranchers in a challenge to the Forest Service's decision to apply 1995 riparian mitigation measures to an allotment in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The ranchers argued that the Service's decision to apply the 1995 measures to their permits, instead of the allowable use levels in the national forest's 2009 forest plan, violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The district court had held that the Service's application of the measures was arbitrary and capricious and violated the NFMA. The appellate court found that the plain language of the 2009 plan supported the Service's application of the 1995 measures and thus that its incorporation of the measures into the permits was lawful. It therefore reversed the district court's partial grant of summary judgment and remanded with instructions to grant summary judgment to the Service.