ELR Citation: ELR 20654
No(s). 83-1153-LE (D. Or. Mar 5, 1990)

The court modifies a 1984 judgment that enjoined timber sales in the Mapleton Ranger District of the Siuslaw National Forest pending the Forest Service's compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The court holds that §318 of the Department of the Interior Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1990 exempts 1990 timber sales from the injunction. Section 318 suspends NEPA's requirements for one year so that logging may proceed in old-growth national forest areas that contain spotted owl habitat. Section 318(a)(1) allows timber sales to proceed provided that they are consistent with the preferred alternative of the draft land and resource management plan and accompanying draft environmental impact statement (EIS). By establishing this alternative standard for assessing timber sales, Congress required the sales to proceed despite the lack of a final EIS and the court's 1984 injunction. The court holds that §318(b)(6)(A) does not nullify all NEPA violations for fiscal year 1990, but nullifies only the specific NEPA violations that were the basis for the cases listed in this provision.

[Previous decisions in this litigation are published at 14 ELR 20349 and 20755, 15 ELR 20931, and 17 ELR 20344.]

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Roy E. Elicker
National Wildlife Federation
519 S.W. Third Ave., Ste. 606, Portland OR 97204
(503) 222-1429

Gary D. Meyers
6924 S.W. Montauk Cir., Lake Oswego OR 97035

Victor M. Sher, Todd D. True, Denise E. Antolini
Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc.
216 First Ave. S., Ste. 330, Seattle WA 98104
(206) 343-7340

Counsel for Defendants
Charles H. Turner, U.S. Attorney
Thomas C. Lee, Ass't U.S. Attorney
312 U.S. Courthouse, 620 S.W. Main, Portland OR 97205
(503) 221-2202