ELR Citation: ELR 20185
No(s). 04-2442 (3d Cir. Sep 15, 2005)

The court upholds a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Forest Service in a suit challenging the Service's decision to undertake a site-specific project in the Allegheny National Forest. Environmental groups sought a declaratory judgment that the Service improperly selected a harvesting system primarily based on dollar return in violation of the Adminstrative Procedure Act and National Forest Management Act. The record, however, does not support the groups' claim that even-aged management was chosen primarily because it will give the greatest dollar return. Rather, the record illustrates that the Service's decision to utilize even-aged management was based on a thorough analysis of a variety of both economic and non-economic factors.