ELR Citation: ELR 20258
No(s). 09-1712 (6th Cir. Sep 29, 2010)

The Sixth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service failed to comply with NEPA and several of its own regulations in its 2006 management plan for the Huron-Manistee National Forests in northern Michigan. The Service's estimates of snowmobile and cross-country visitors to the forests are arbitrary. As a result, the Service violated 36 C.F.R. §219.21(a)(2)'s requirement of a demand-supply analysis. In addition, the Service failed to comply with the requirement that it coordinate its recreational planning with that of the state of Michigan with the aim (to the extent feasible) of “reducing duplication in meeting recreation demands” with respect to gun hunting and snowmobiling. The Service's reasons for keeping pre-designation and club trails open to snowmobile use were also arbitrary. Thus, the Service violated §219.21(g)'s mandate to minimize conflicts between off-road vehicle use and other uses and interests of the forests. Lastly, the Service violated NEPA when it failed to consider whether to close "primitive" and "semiprimitive" nonmotorized areas to gun hunting and snowmobile use. Because each of these failures was material to the plan's development, the court ordered the Service to adopt a plan that complies with the law within 90 days.