ELR Citation: ELR 20248
No(s). 09-35896 (9th Cir. Sep 15, 2010)

The Ninth Circuit held that a Forest Service project in the Gallatin National Forest to promote habitat diversity and to reduce the risks of severe wildfire, insect infestation, and disease complies with NEPA but not the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The Service's risk reduction calculations are supported by studies conducted in other regions as well as by extensive modeling. In addition, the EA adequately considered the project's impact on global warming in proportion to its significance, and it sufficiently explained that its mitigation measures would minimize, and compensate for, any soil disturbance from the project. In addition, the Service's conclusion that the project would comply with the Gallatin National Forest Plan's monitoring requirements and would not threaten Yellowstone cutthroat trout was neither arbitrary nor capricious under the NFMA. Nevertheless, the project violates the NFMA because the Service failed to comply with the Forest Plan's elk-cover requirement. The Service must remedy this error on remand.