The court holds that the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council (Council) violated the Northwest Power Act (NPA) §839b(h)(7) and the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to explain, in its final amendments to its fish and wildlife program for the Columbia River Basin,...

Applying Nebraska law, the court holds that the instrument creating the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust authorizes the trust to participate in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing hearings for two hydroelectric projects on the Platte River and in litigation involving...

The court holds that timber companies, a trade association, and a county lack constitutional and prudential standing to challenge the U.S. Forest Service's interim guidelines on managing spotted owl habitat in California's western Sierra Nevada national forests. Plaintiffs alleged that the guideline...

The court holds that the Endangered Species Act's (ESA's) prohibition on the "take" of endangered species is not unconstitutional as applied to purely local activities that affect a fly that exists only in California. The court first holds that the record clearly shows that wildlife in general, and ...

The court holds that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires the U.S. Forest Service to release to an environmental group management territory maps identifying Mexican spotted owl nest sites. The Forest Service may not withhold the maps under FOIA exemption 2, which permits withholding of inf...

The court holds that exemption 2 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not exempt the U.S. Forest Service from disclosing documents revealing the locations of northern goshawk nest sites. The government has failed to demonstrate how the nest sites related "solely," or even predominantly, "to...

The court reverses a district court opinion that the stare decisis effect of a decision by a federal district court in Washington State bars appellants' current challenge to the president's 1994 forest plan. The court holds that stare decisis does not require a district court in one circuit to follo...

The court holds that a commercial fisher's challenge to regulations establishing a limited entry program in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery is untimely under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The fisher failed to seek review within 30 days after the regulations were promulga...

The court holds that a district court erred in including as "relevant conduct" for sentencing purposes an individual's sale of 118 black bear gall bladders to an undercover agent. The court first holds that the district court erred because relevant conduct under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines must b...

The court sets aside the critical habitat designation (CHD) for the southwestern willow flycatcher because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') adoption of a baseline approach to measure the economic impact of the flycatcher CHD was an erroneous construction of the Endangered Species Act (ESA...