Source: http://openjurist.org/430/f3d/1057/ecology-center-inc-v-austin
Timestamp: 2015-01-27 03:48:36
Document Index: 466993533

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1291', '§ 706', '§ 1600', '§ 1604', '§ 1604', '§ 1604', '§ 1604', '§ 1604', '§ 4332', '§ 1502']

430 F3d 1057 Ecology Center Inc v. Austin | OpenJurist
430 F. 3d 1057 - Ecology Center Inc v. Austin	Home430 f3d 1057 ecology center inc v. austin
430 F3d 1057 Ecology Center Inc v. Austin 430 F.3d 1057
ECOLOGY CENTER, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant,v.Deborah AUSTIN, in her official capacity as Forest Supervisor for the Lolo National Forest; Bradley Powell, Regional Forester of Region One of the U.S. Forest service; united states forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Defendants-Appellees,Mineral County; Town of Superior; St. Regis School District No. 6; Superior School District No. 3; Montana Coalition Of Forest Counties; Tricon Timber, Defendant-Intervenors-Appellees.
No. 03-35995.
Aaron P. Avila, Ronald M. Spritzer, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana Donald W. Molloy, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-03-00018-DWM.
Ecology Center, Inc. ("Ecology Center") challenges the United States Forest Service's ("Forest Service" or "Service") Lolo National Forest Post Burn Project ("Project"), which was designed in the aftermath of the 2000 wildfires on the Lolo National Forest ("LNF"). Ecology Center raises a number of procedural and substantive claims under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and the National Forest Management Act ("NFMA"). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Because we find that the Forest Service's decision to permit logging in critical old-growth forest and post-fire habitats was arbitrary and capricious, we reverse the grant of summary judgment to the Service and remand.
* In 2000, wildfires burned approximately 74,000 acres on the Lolo National Forest. While the fires caused considerable damage to the forest, they also created habitat for species that are dependent upon post-fire habitats, such as the black-backed woodpecker.
In response to the 2000 fires, the Forest Service began developing the Lolo National Forest Post Burn Project and preparing the requisite Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS"). The Forest Service considered four alternatives in detail, including a "no action alternative." In July 2002, the Forest Service selected a slightly modified version of "Alternative Number Five" for the Project. This alternative involves, inter alia, commercial thinning of small diameter timber and prescribed burning in old-growth forest stands, as well as salvage logging of burned and insect killed timber in various areas of the forest.
On February 7, 2003, Ecology Center filed its complaint, raising several claims under NEPA and NFMA. Ecology Center objects to the Forest Service's decision to permit commercial logging in old-growth forest stands, raising concerns about the impact of such logging on the viability of species that are dependent upon old-growth habitat, such as the pileated woodpecker and the northern goshawk. Similarly, Ecology Center questions the Service's impact analysis of salvage logging in post-fire habitat, particularly with respect to the black-backed woodpecker, a sensitive species. Ecology Center also raises concerns regarding the impact of the Project on soil conditions and questions the reliability of the Service's soil quality analysis.
Ecology Center moved for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, both of which the district court denied. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment. On November 4, 2003, the district court struck extra-record declarations that Ecology Center had included with its motion and granted summary judgment in favor of the Forest Service.1
"Because this is a record review case, we may direct that summary judgment be granted to either party based upon our de novo review of the administrative record." Lands Council v. Powell, 379 F.3d 738, 743 (9th Cir.2004), amended by 395 F.3d 1019 (9th Cir.2005). Our review of agency actions challenged under NFMA and NEPA is governed by the judicial review provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). Neighbors of Cuddy Mountain v. U.S. Forest Serv., 137 F.3d 1372, 1376 (9th Cir.1998); Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Serv., 349 F.3d 1157, 1165 (9th Cir.2003). Under the APA, we review to determine if the agency's actions were "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise contrary to law." Lands Council, 379 F.3d at 743.
NFMA imposes both substantive and procedural requirements on the Forest Service. 16 U.S.C. §§ 1600-1687. Procedurally, it requires the Forest Service to develop a land and resource management plan ("forest plan") for each forest that it manages. 16 U.S.C. § 1604(a). Subsequent agency actions must not only comply with NFMA but also be consistent with the governing forest plan. 16 U.S.C. § 1604(i); Idaho Sporting Cong., Inc. v. Rittenhouse, 305 F.3d 957, 961-62 (9th Cir. 2002) ("[A]ll management activities undertaken by the Forest Service must comply with the forest plan, which in turn must comply with the Forest Act...."). NFMA also requires that the Forest Service adopt regulations specifying guidelines for the achievement of NFMA's substantive mandates. 16 U.S.C. § 1604(g)(3).
"In providing for multiple uses, the forest plan must comply with substantive requirements of the Forest Act designed to ensure continued diversity of plant and animal communities and the continued viability of wildlife in the forest...." Idaho Sporting Congress, 305 F.3d at 961; 16 U.S.C. § 1604(g)(3)(B). In addition to the mandate to maintain wild-life viability, the Forest Service must maintain soil productivity. 16 U.S.C. § 1604(g)(3)(C).
Unlike NFMA, NEPA imposes no substantive requirements. Instead, it is designed "to force agencies to publicly consider the environmental impacts of their actions before going forward." Idaho Sporting Congress, 305 F.3d at 963. "Agencies must adequately consider the project's potential impacts and the consideration given must amount to a `hard look' at the environmental effects." Id. Specifically, NEPA requires the preparation of a detailed Environmental Impact Statement. 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C). An EIS must "provide full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts and shall inform decisionmakers and the public of the reasonable alternatives which would avoid or minimize adverse impacts or enhance the quality of the human environment." 40 C.F.R. § 1502.1.
A. "Treatment" of Old-Growth Habitat
The Project involves what the Forest Service characterizes as rehabilitative "treatment" of old-growth (and potential old-growth) forest stands; this treatment entails the thinning of old-growth stands via commercial logging and prescribed burning. The Forest Service cites a number of studies that indicate such treatment is necessary to correct uncharacteristic forest development resulting from years of fire suppression. The Service also points out that the treatment is designed to leave most of the desirable old-growth trees in place and to improve their health.
Ecology Center highlights the scientific uncertainty and debate regarding the necessity, design, and long-term effects of such old-growth treatment. In particular, Ecology Center alleges that the treatment of old-growth forest harms species that are dependent upon old-growth habitat. For example, Ecology Center claims that, even if treatment leaves most old-growth trees in place, it removes or alters other essential elements within old-growth habitat and disturbs bird species currently nesting or foraging within targeted stands.2 Although treatment may be designed to restore old-growth to "historic conditions," Ecology Center points out this can be a misleading concept: for example, information regarding historic conditions is incomplete; altering particular sections of forest in order to achieve "historic" conditions may not make sense when the forest as a whole has already been fundamentally changed; many variables can affect treatment outcomes; and the treatment process is qualitatively different from the "natural" or "historic" processes it is intended to mimic.
While Ecology Center does not offer proof that the proposed treatment causes the harms it fears, the Service does not offer proof that the proposed treatment benefits — or at least does not harm — old-growth dependent species. Ecology Center argues that because the Forest Service has not assessed the effects of old-growth treatment on dependent species, the Service cannot be reasonably certain that treating old-growth is consistent with NFMA's substantive mandate to ensure species diversity and viability. As a result, especially given the scientific uncertainty surrounding the treatment of old-growth stands, the Forest Service's decision to treat additional old-growth stands was arbitrary and capricious.
Although the Forest Service points to a report which notes that two species of woodpecker were observed foraging in treated old-growth forest, it does not otherwise dispute the charge that it has not directly monitored the impact of treating old-growth on dependent species. Instead, the Service maintains that it need not do so because (1) it has observed the short-term effects of thinning old-growth stands via commercial logging and prescribed burning on forest composition, (2) it has reason to believe that certain old-growth dependent species would prefer the post-treatment composition of old-growth forest stands, and (3) its assumption that treatment does not harm old-growth dependent species is therefore reasonable. The Service further argues that we must defer to its methodological choices regarding what to monitor and how to assess the impact of old-growth treatment.
An agency's choice of methodology is entitled to deference. See, e.g., Salmon River Concerned Citizens v. Robertson, 32 F.3d 1346, 1359 (9th Cir.1994). However, there are circumstances under which an agency's choice of methodology, and any decision predicated on that methodology, are arbitrary and capricious. For example, we have held that in order to comply with NFMA, the Forest Service must demonstrate the reliability of its scientific methodology. Lands Council, 379 F.3d at 752 (holding NFMA "require[s] that the hypothesis and prediction of the model be verified with observation"). Here, as in Lands Council, the Forest Service's conclusion that treating old-growth forest is beneficial to dependent species is predicated on an unverified hypothesis. While the Service's predictions may be correct, the Service has not yet taken the time to test its theory with any "on the ground analysis," id., despite the fact that it has already treated old-growth forest elsewhere and therefore has had the opportunity to do so. Just as it would be arbitrary and capricious for a pharmaceutical company to market a drug to the general population without first conducting a clinical trial to verify that the drug is safe and effective, it is arbitrary and capricious for the Forest Service to irreversibly "treat" more and more old-growth forest without first determining that such treatment is safe and effective for dependent species. This is not a case in which the Forest Service is asking for the opportunity to verify its theory of the benefits of old-growth treatment. Rather, the Service is asking us to grant it the license to continue treating old-growth forests while excusing it from ever having to verify that such treatment is not harmful.
The Service argues that under Inland Empire Public Lands Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 88 F.3d 754 (9th Cir.1996), we must defer to its decision to monitor only the effect of treatment on forest composition, instead of also monitoring the effect of treatment on dependent species. However, Inland Empire is inapposite here. In that case, we permitted the Service to determine that it was complying with its duty to maintain species viability by using a "proxy-on-proxy" method for monitoring species population. Id. at 761. But see Idaho Sporting Congress, 305 F.3d at 972-73(finding use of proxy-on-proxy approach arbitrary and capricious where there is evidence that the "methodology does not reasonably ensure viable populations of the species at issue"). Under the proxy-on-proxy approach, the Service does not ensure that it is maintaining species viability by directly monitoring species populations. Instead, the Service designates certain "management indicator species" as proxies for other species with comparable habitat needs. It then designates certain kinds of habitat as proxies for the management indicator species. Finally, it assumes that a species' viability is maintained so long as the requisite amount of the species' habitat is maintained. Here, the Service is not simply maintaining the amount of old-growth habitat necessary to support old-growth dependent species — it is altering the composition of old-growth habitat through an invasive process.
Although the Service concedes that the opinions of well-qualified experts vary with respect to the appropriateness of management activities in old-growth areas, it also argues that it must have the "discretion to rely on the reasonable opinions of its own qualified experts even if, as an original matter, a court might find contrary views more persuasive." Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council, 490 U.S. 360, 378, 109 S.Ct. 1851, 104 L.Ed.2d 377 (1989). However, this is not a case in which different experts have studied the effects of commercial thinning and prescribed burning in old-growth forests and reached different conclusions. Here, experts have differing hypotheses regarding the effects that treating old-growth has on dependent species, yet the Forest Service proposes to continue treating old-growth without first taking the time to observe what those effects actually are. In light of its responsibilities under NFMA, this is arbitrary and capricious.
"The EIS did not address in any meaningful way the various uncertainties surrounding the scientific evidence" upon which the decision to treat the Lolo National Forest old-growth rests. Seattle Audubon Soc'y v. Espy, 998 F.2d 699, 704 (9th Cir.1993). Although the EIS identifies the public's concerns regarding the impact of treatment on dependent species as "key" or "driving" issues,3 the EIS does not actually explain in any detail the bases of those concerns, much less address them. Cf. id. (finding NEPA violation where Forest Service failed "to include a full discussion of the scientific uncertainty" surrounding its strategy for maintaining spotted owl viability). The EIS discusses in detail only the Service's own reasons for proposing treatment, and it treats the prediction that treatment will benefit old-growth dependent species as a fact instead of an untested and debated hypothesis. Even if the Service considered these issues but concluded that it need not or could not "undertake further scientific study" regarding the impact of treatment on dependent species, it should have "explain[ed] in the EIS why such an undertaking [wa]s not necessary or feasible." Id. For these reasons, we also find that the Service's analysis of the impact of treating old-growth to be inadequate under NEPA.4
B. Salvage Harvesting of Black-Backed Woodpecker Habitat
The Forest Service has designated the black-backed woodpecker as a "sensitive species," a species for which viability is a concern. The black-backed woodpecker's viability is sensitive because it is particularly dependent upon post-fire landscapes, and the combination of fire-suppression efforts and past salvage logging has drastically reduced the amount of post-fire habitat. According to the EIS, "[d]ue to this reduction in habitat, black-backed woodpeckers went from being relatively abundant to relatively rare." To make matters worse, not all fires create black-backed woodpecker habitat, and the burned stands that do qualify only serve as black-backed woodpecker habitat for a limited number of years. As a result, new post-fire habitat must be continuously generated.
Ecology Center and the Forest Service agree that prior to the 2000 fires, there was a critical shortage of black-backed woodpecker habitat. Specifically, the Service estimated that from 1993 to 1998, fires created a total of 11,045 acres of post-fire habitat (9160 of those acres were burned in 1998 alone). This total was estimated to be 6% of what would have been created historically over a comparable six-year period. At that level, the Service considered