Opinion ID: 576710
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: National Forest Management Act Claim

Text: 96 The district court also granted summary judgment to the defendants on Sierra Club's claim that the Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act and its implementing regulations by failing to maintain a minimum viable population of red squirrels. The National Forest Management Act requires the Forest Service to promulgate regulations for the development and revision of land management plans that will provide for diversity of plant and animal communities based on the suitability and capability of the specific land area in order to meet overall multiple-use objectives.... 16 U.S.C. § 1604(g)(3)(B). The regulation promulgated pursuant to that mandate states: 97 Fish and Wildlife habitat shall be managed to maintain viable populations of existing native and desired non-native vertebrate species in the planning area. For planning purposes, a viable population shall be regarded as one which has the estimated numbers and distribution of reproductive individuals to insure its continued existence is well distributed in the planning area. In order to insure that viable populations will be maintained, habitat must be provided to support, at least, a minimum number of reproductive individuals and that habitat must be well distributed so that those individuals can interact with others in the planning area. 98 36 C.F.R. § 219.19. 99 According to Sierra Club, the fact that a viable population of red squirrels no longer exists is proof that the Forest Service violated the National Forest Management Act and its implementing regulations. The defendants respond that the Forest Service is not required to maintain a minimum viable population of an endangered species, which is by definition no longer viable. We need not decide which party is correct. The Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act precludes us from granting the relief Sierra Club seeks on the National Forest Management Act claim. 100 We have already decided that Congress, having considered the endangered status of the red squirrel, opted for immediate construction of the first three telescopes. See supra Part III.B.1. Clearly, the fact that there might no longer be a viable population of red squirrels was part of what Congress considered in balancing the competing interests. Sierra Club's claim that the red squirrel population is no longer viable therefore is not a basis for us to halt construction of the first three telescopes. 32 Accordingly, the district court properly granted summary judgment to the defendants on the National Forest Management Act claim.