ELR Citation: ELR 20183
No(s). 04-16149 (9th Cir. Aug 30, 2006)

The court affirms a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Forest Service in a case involving property owners' right-of-access over a road in the Sitgreaves National Forest. In lieu of a special use permit, the Forest Service offered the property owners a 30-year private road easement under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). The property owners rejected the offer and instead filed suit under the Quiet Title Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, arguing that they have an easement over the road at issue. But the owners did not have an easement by necessity because FLPMA and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act granted them access to their property, obviating the necessity requirement for such an easement. Moreover, an implied easement does not exist because the owners' right-of-access is clearly expressed in those statutes. And even if an express easement had been granted based on language contained in a 1920 patent, it would still be subject to Forest Service regulation. The owners also argue that FLPMA's easement is arbitrary and capricious. FLPMA, however, vests the Secretary of the Agriculture with the authority to regulate access over a national forest, and FLPMA's easement is a reasonable exercise of that authority.