ELR Citation: ELR 20128
No(s). 05-4101 (10th Cir. Jun 29, 2006)

The court partially reverses the dismissal of environmental groups' complaint challenging a U.S. Forest Service logging project in the Dixie National Forest. The Forest Service's environmental impact statement for the project takes a hard look at the potential adverse environmental impacts of the project, but the agency fails to comply with the National Forest Management Act. Under the transition provision of the 2000 forest planning regulations, the Forest Service must consider the "best available science" when implementing site-specific projects within a forest plan, and the project at issue here is a site-specific implementation of the Dixie National Forest Plan. Because the agency fails to consider or even mention the project's compliance with the 2000 transition rule, the Forest Service's action is arbitrary and capricious.