ELR Citation: ELR 20195
No(s). 90-2150 (W.D. Ark. Apr 25, 1991)

The court holds that an environmental group's challenge to the Forest Service's land and resource management plan for the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas should not be dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, or for lack of standing or ripeness. The court holds that the Forest Service has developed a practice of making, withdrawing, and reinstating timber sales and forest policy decisions in a way that might forestall judicial review if the doctrine of exhaustion were applied. The court holds that instead of dismissal for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, the interests of all parties are best served by a stay of proceedings pending a final decision on the administrative appeals of the forest plan. The court holds that the environmental group has standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution because the forest plan is a final agency action, and that the injury the environmental group complains of is fairly traceable to approval of the forest plan by the Forest Service and is redressable by the court. The court also holds that the environmental group has statutory standing because approval of the forest plan is a final agency action, the environmental group's injury falls within the zone of interest of the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act, and the environmental groups claims injury with sufficient specificity. The court further holds that the plan for management of the Ouachita National Forest is a program mandated by the NFMA and therefore an agency action that includes prescriptive standards.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Mary M. Rawlins
500 Mena St., Mena AR 71953
(501) 394-5989

Counsel for Defendants
Charles Smith, Ass't U.S. Attorney
P.O. Box 1524, Fort Smith AR 72901
(501) 783-5125

Rebecca A. Donnellan, David F. Shuey
Environment and Natural Resources Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 514-2000