ELR Citation: ELR 20166
No(s). 04-35375 (9th Cir. Aug 11, 2005)

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in approving a wildlife improvement project that involves a timber sale within the Helena National Forest. The record does not include a basis for the Forest Service's conclusion that the project will not violate the forest plan's hiding cover standard for big game. Thus, its approval of the project was arbitrary and capricious and a violation of the NFMA. And the project environmental impact statement is inadequate under NEPA because, by using a hiding cover calculation denominator that is inconsistent with that required by the forest plan, the Forest Service did not take a "hard look" at the project's true effect and failed to inform the public of the project's environmental impact.