ELR Citation: ELR 20700
No(s). 73-1242 (8th Cir. Jun 10, 1974)

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, upholds a district court injunction against logging in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), pending the filing by the U.S. Forest Service of a final environmental impact statement for its new BWCA Management Plan. Even though the logging in question is the subject of 11 contracts entered into before the effective date of NEPA, Forest Service activities since then relating to these contracts (including extensions of the contract period, modifications in the areas to be cut, and supervision of logging operations) constitute major federal actions significantly affecting the human environment, and an EIS is therefore required. The court adopts the view that the agency's threshold determination as to the need for an EIS is subject to judicial review under a "reasonableness" standard rather than the "arbitrary and capricious" standard by which the adequacy of the EIS must be judged. The court, citing CEQ guidelines, finds the failure of the Forest Service to file an EIS in this instance unreasonable because the cumulative effect of the several minor actions significantly affects the human environment. Since an EIS is required, the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting an injunction against further logging until the final impact statement is filed. The court briefly considers the defenses of laches and lack of standing, finding them without merit, but declines to rule on whether the Wilderness Act specifically provides for logging within the BWCA.

Counsel for Plaintiff-Appellee
Gerald L. Seck
Minnesota Public Interest Research Group
3036 University Ave., SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Counsel for Defendants-Appellants
Curtis L. Roy
Dorsey, Marquart, Windhorst, West & Halladay
2400 First National Building
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Joe A. Walters
O'Connor & Hannan
845 Northwestern Bank Building
Minneapolis, MN 55402