Public Lands

A district court dismissed several claims a group of cattle ranchers filed against USDA and DOI concerning actions taken to protect the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, an endangered species.…

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate NEPA or the APA when it reissued a 30-year special use permit allowing an energy company to continue operating a portion of a 1,…

A district court preliminarily enjoined BLM from enforcing its hydraulic fracturing rule for federal and Native American lands. Various industry, state, and Native American petitioners challenged…

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service violated NEPA when it categorically excluded from environmental review a mining company's proposed mineral exploration plan in the Coronado…

The Ninth Circuit upheld the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA's) approval of a Native American tribe's plan to harvest 268 acres of timber in the Coquille Forest in southwest Oregon.…

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service's continued authorization of a 6-foot-tall Jesus statue on national forest land overlooking a northwestern Montana ski resort does not…

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's ESA lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service concerning the agency's approval of suction dredge…

The Ninth Circuit reinstated application of the roadless rule to the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, holding that USDA violated the APA when it exempted the Forest from the rule. When USDA…

A district court held that DOI has unreasonably delayed agency action in the agency's review of an oil and gas drilling permit on BLM lands in Montana held sacred to Native Americans. Under…

A district court denied Alaska's request for a court order directing DOI to review the state's plan for the exploration of oil and gas resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (…